Ex-China offer prices of cold rolled coil (CRC) have moved sideways in the past week amid minimal changes in local CRC prices and the approach of the Chinese New Year holiday.
At present, export offers for CRC given by major Chinese mills are at $750-780/mt FOB for April shipment, with the average offer prices remaining stable on average compared to January 27, though the range of offer prices has become narrower. Reference deal prices from mills have been heard at $730-750/mt FOB, moving sideways compared to the previous week. At the same time, the lowest offers from traders and small mills from the north are still at $720/mt FOB.
During the given week, domestic CRC prices have edged up slightly, while transaction activities have been at low levels. Most downstream users are off for the Chinese New Year holiday. Meanwhile, inventory levels have not indicated big changes. It is expected that CRC prices in the Chinese domestic market will likely move sideways in the coming two weeks.
Average domestic 1.0 mm cold rolled coil spot prices in China are at RMB 5,336/mt ($825/mt) ex-warehouse, increasing by RMB 16/mt ($2.5/mt) compared to January 27, according to SteelOrbis’ information.
As of February 3, HRC futures at the Shanghai Futures Exchange are standing at RMB 4,335/mt ($670/mt), decreasing by RMB 186/mt ($28.8/mt) or 4.1 percent since January 27.
$1 = RMB 6.4669
