Ex-China HRC offer prices have moved sideways in the past week as trading has been almost at a halt recently ahead of the expected introduction of the new export duty and weak bids. Most mills have focused on sales of HRC in the local market, where prices have been showing just small fluctuations.
At present, export offers for boron-added SS400 HRC given by major Chinese mills are at $950-1,020/mt FOB for October shipment, with a midpoint at $985/mt FOB, moving sideways on average compared to last week. “Chinese steelmakers have given priority to demand for HRC in the local market, resulting in stable export offer prices,” an international trader told SteelOrbis.
The tradable price level for SS400 coils has been heard at $920-930/mt FOB lately, stable from last week.
Small Chinese mills or Chinese traders may agree to sell SAE1006 HRC at $930-960/mt FOB, which is out of the range of buyers’ interest in SE Asia or other markets.
During the given week, domestic HRC prices have decreased slightly amid declining HRC futures prices. Demand for HRC has remained slack during the hot summer season, but output cuts have been supporting some balance in the market. Downstream users mostly hold a wait-and-see stance.
Domestic HRC prices in China are at RMB 5,670-5,770/mt ($879-890/mt) ex-warehouse on August 17, with the average price level RMB 15/mt ($2.3/mt) lower as compared to August 10, according to SteelOrbis’ data. Compared with the price level on Monday, August 16, average local quotations are RMB 20/mt ($3.1/mt) higher.
As of August 17, HRC futures 2201 at the Shanghai Futures Exchange are standing at RMB 5,670/mt ($875/mt), decreasing by RMB 148/mt ($23/mt) since August 10.
$1 = RMB 6.4765