Ex-China HRC prices vary to different trade destinations, optimistic mood domestically wavers

This week, most big Chinese mills have rolled over their export prices, with only some small corrections reported. At the same time, given the gap between prices among different Chinese suppliers, including mills and traders, the market trend has lacked clarity so far. Besides, domestic HRC prices have been indicating ups and downs amid fluctuations of futures prices.

At present, export offers for boron-added SS400 HRC given by major Chinese mills are at $650-670/mt FOB, the same as last week, though several producers have reported their offers at $640/mt FOB, down by $10/mt, while some have maintained offers at $680/mt FOB. “In general, ex-China HRC prices have remained stable, with offers from Rizhao Steel heard at $650/mt FOB, Shagang at $665/mt FOB, Yangang at $665/mt FOB and Benxi at $670/mt FOB, while Anfeng has been offering extremely low at $605/mt FOB,” a Chinese trader told SteelOrbis.

Meanwhile, the movement of tradable SS400 HRC prices has been varying according to the destination, with deal prices in Vietnam falling to $600/mt FOB ($610/mt CFR), down by $5/mt week on week, while offers for Q125 and SS400 HRC to the Middle East and Turkey have indicated a slight rise of $5-10/mt to $645-650/mt FOB (around $695-700/mt CFR). Meanwhile, offers for ex-China SS400 HRC to Pakistan have been reported at $635/mt CFR, the same as last week.

In the SAE1006 HRC segment, Chinese suppliers sold around 90,000/mt of materials to Vietnam at $660-665/mt CFR, with new offers mainly coming this week at $660-670/mt CFR levels. Offers to Turkey have increased by $10/mt to at $710/mt CFR and above levels, while offers to South America have dropped by $10/mt to $690-710/mt CFR Pacific coast, with several deals reported to Brazil at around $720/mt CFR, according to sources.

In the meantime, during the given week, HRC prices in the Chinese domestic market have seen ups and downs amid fluctuating HRC futures prices and the changes in market players’ sentiments. At the same time, although demand for HRC from downstream users has been improving gradually, the inventory of HRC has been at relatively high levels, exerting a negative impact on prices. Furthermore, according to sources, HRC producers have kept suffering losses, and so some of them will halt their production activities, which will bolster prices.

Domestic HRC prices in China are at RMB 4,100-4,220/mt ($602-620/mt) ex-warehouse on February 14, with the average price level RMB 33/mt ($4.85/mt) higher than that recorded on February 7, but RMB 15/mt ($2.2/mt) lower compared to February 14, according to SteelOrbis’ data.

As of February 14, HRC futures at the Shanghai Futures Exchange are standing at RMB 4,132/mt ($607/mt), increasing by RMB 63/mt ($9.3/mt) or 1.55 percent since February 7.

$1 = RMB 6.8136