During the week ending May 27, hot rolled coil (HRC) prices in the Chinese domestic market have seen slight rises for thick specifications, with prices for thin specifications moving sideways. Transaction activity in the market has remained at poor levels. Average HRC prices in the local Chinese market can be viewed in the SteelOrbis price reports.
During the given week, HRC futures prices in China have continued to increase, exerting a positive impact on the domestic HRC spot market. Some traders have suspended their sales activities in order to wait for better prices, while many traders have chosen to increase their offer prices and continue selling. However, demand from downstream users has not seen any significant improvement. If bearish sentiment reappears in the futures market, HRC prices in the domestic spot market will likely start to move down again. It is expected that HRC prices in the Chinese domestic market will continue to see some slight upticks in the coming week.