Ex-China HDG offer prices have moved down in the past week - after the stable trend in the previous week - amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic worldwide. Offers are at $515-535/mt FOB for late May delivery this week, down by $10-25/mt compared to one week ago. At the same time, bids have been heard at $510-520/mt FOB to Southeast Asia and South America.
“Quiet activities in the HDG export market amid panic sentiments caused by the coronavirus pandemic made some HDG producers consider halting HDG production lines to reduce losses, while market participants think demand is unlikely to improve in the short term, and so they have expected lower than $500/mt FOB for ex-China HDG export prices,” a trader said.
During the given week, a lot of HDG supplies which were supposed to go to the export market were diverted to the domestic market, causing market players to decrease their local HDG offer prices to stimulate sales and reduce losses. Meanwhile, a wait-and-see stance has prevailed among downstream users, curbing the demand for HDG.
Average 1.0 mm SGCC hot dip galvanized spot prices in China have decreased by RMB 20/mt ($2.8/mt) week on week to RMB 4,306/mt ($610.5/mt) ex-warehouse, according to SteelOrbis’ information.
As of April 9, HRC futures prices at the Shanghai Future Exchange are standing at RMB 3,149/mt ($446.4/mt), increasing by RMB 71/mt ($10.1/mt) or 2.3 percent since April 2.
$1 = RMB 7.0536