During the week ending March 19, hot rolled coil (HRC) prices in the Chinese domestic market mostly continued their decreasing trend. Average HRC prices in the local Chinese market can be viewed in the SteelOrbis price reports section.
For most of the past week, prices of HRC products in the Chinese domestic market continued their falling trend, though a small rebound was witnessed on March 18, with prices moving sideways since then.
Traders have been unwilling to place orders due to the high cost of ordering new materials. Market participants mostly maintained a wait-and-see stance while prices were moving down. With the rebound witnessed at the end of the past week, an improvement has been seen in transaction volumes. Some market insiders suggest it may now be a good time to build up inventory as steel prices have declined by more than 10 percent. Since steelmakers are trying to keep their ex-works prices stable, market players may purchase from the spot market rather than from steel mills.
It is expected that Chinese domestic HRC prices will move sideways in the coming week.