Ex-China cold rolled coil (CRC) offer prices have moved sideways in the past week amid the stable trend in the local market. Major steel mills have focused on sales locally and have not been in a hurry to sell material to traders at discounts.
At present, export offers for CRC given by major Chinese mills are at $520-530/mt FOB for late October, remaining stable compared to July 22, following a rising trend over the previous week.
The reference deal prices from traders have been heard at $505-515/mt FOB, while some contracts have been done closer to the higher end of the range to Southeast Asia and South America. “Approaching the end of July, some steelmakers have received sufficient export orders for this month and so they have focused on the higher profits in the local market amid the prevailing bullish sentiments and firm demand,” a trader told SteelOrbis.
During the given week, inventory of CRC has been relatively low, which has bolstered CRC prices to some extent. However, demand has not seen any significant improvement yet, though market players expect a better situation following the end of the rainy season in eastern China. It is expected that CRC prices in the Chinese domestic market will continue their fluctuating trend in the coming week.
Average domestic 1.0 mm cold rolled coil spot prices in China are at RMB 4,316/mt ($619/mt) ex-warehouse, remaining stable compared to July 22, according to SteelOrbis’ information.
As of July 29, HRC futures at the Shanghai Futures Exchange are standing at RMB 3,788/mt ($541.4/mt), decreasing by RMB 14/mt ($2.0/mt) or 0.4 percent since July 22.
$1 = RMB 6.9969