In late January, SteelOrbis reported offers for commercial-grade HRC from China to Chile for February shipments at $525-535/mt CFR, while CRC offers were reported at $620-625/mt CFR and HDG offers at $645-655/mt CFR.
For March and April shipments, export prices from China have moved up and are now being heard at $545-555/mt CFR for HRC, while CRC offers were reported at $645-650/mt CFR and HDG offers at $670-680/mt CFR. These offer prices reflect an increase of $20/mt on HRC, $25/mt on CRC, and $25/mt on HDG.
According to sources, buyers were “caught off guard” by the firm increases in offers for the past week after Chinese firms delayed updating post-holiday offers. As such, trading activity is sparse at the moment; most buyers are on the sidelines pending further market direction and are actively looking at alternative sources for material. The few that are actively bidding for HRC are being heard in the $520-535/mt CFR range and for CRC bids are in the $620-630/mt CFR range.