Chinese hot rolled coil (HRC) export offers have indicated slight decreases in the past week, following big declines in the previous week, as the ongoing coronavirus epidemic still negatively affected demand from downstream users due to the disruption of traffic and since most migrant workers have not yet returned to work.
At present, export offers for boron-added SS400 HRC given by major Chinese mills are at $460-465/mt FOB for late April delivery, down $2.5/mt compared to the average prices recorded a week ago. At the same time, deals have been heard at $455-460/mt FOB to Asia - to South Korea and Vietnam, in particular. “Though China has taken measures to stimulate enterprises to resume production, many migrant workers have been in quarantine due to the coronavirus and supply of raw materials has been on the short side because of the disruption of transportation, and this still negatively affects market players’ sentiments,” an international trader told SteelOrbis.
The local Chinese HRC market has moved down slightly as some market participants have gradually resumed activities and logistics have seen some improvements though they are still far from being at normal levels. Domestic HRC prices in China are at RMB 3,350-3,490/mt ($480-500/mt) ex-warehouse on February 18, with the average price level RMB 20/mt ($2.9/mt) lower as compared to February 11, according to SteelOrbis’ data.
As of February 18, HRC futures prices at the Shanghai Future Exchange are standing at RMB 3,414/mt ($489/mt), increasing by RMB 36/mt ($5.2/mt) or 1.1 percent since February 11.
$1 = RMB 6.983
