Ex-China cold rolled coil (CRC) prices have remained stable over the past week amid limited changes locally, but sentiments have been still negative with rising inventories and poor demand.
More specifically, ex-China CRC offer prices from mills are at $570-575/mt FOB this week, moving sideways on average week on week, while the tradable levels for ex-China CRC have been heard at $560-565/mt FOB.
During the given week, CRC prices in the Chinese domestic market have edged down slightly amid the decreasing HRC futures prices. Inventories of CRC have indicated rises as it has been in the traditional off-season, which resulted in the slack demand from downstream users. Currently, CRC producers’ capacity utilization rates have been at normal level, which will exert pressures on the prices from supply side. It is thought that CRC prices in the Chinese domestic market will fluctuate within a limited range or move down gradually.
Average domestic 1.0 mm cold rolled coil spot prices in China are at RMB 3,677/mt ($539/mt) ex-warehouse, decreasing by RMB 6/mt ($0.9/mt) week on week, according to SteelOrbis’ information.
As of June 24, HRC futures at Shanghai Futures Exchange are standing at RMB 3,371/mt ($487.5/mt), decreasing by RMB 46/mt ($6.7/mt) or 1.4 percent since June 17, while declining by 0.03 percent compared to the previous trading day, June 23.
$1 = RMB 6.8195
