Global hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices have continued to decrease in almost all key markets, though most suppliers fell short in their efforts to heighten buyers’ interest. Suppliers from China have decreased their offers given poor demand and tough competition with other suppliers in Asia. At the same, although the official level of HRC prices in Turkey have remained unchanged, the workable level has softened given low trading activity. The similar situation was seen in India, where exporters were forced to roll back increases. As for the European market, HRC prices have moved downwards as compared to the first week of the month, while domestic business activity at both domestic and import segments has remained muted, with both mills and buyers staying largely out of the market due to holidays.
The limited demand and slow business activity in Turkey’s HRC market has once again pulled the local and export prices down this week. The workable domestic levels decreased to $610-630/mt ex-works, while the official offers have remained at around $630-650/mt ex-works. HRC business has been also under the pressure of slow coated and cold-rolled sales, while the prices for the mentioned products decreased slightly this week. Particularly, HDG has been available at $740-780/mt ex-works base, PPGI – at $820-860/mt ex-works, while offers for CRC have been set at $710-750/mt ex-works. By the end of the week some optimism has been seen in the HRC market, following ArcelorMittal's price increase announcement in Europe. As a result, taking also into account the relative stability in the import scrap segment, Turkish mills are hopeful they will have a chance to increase their HRC prices too. In addition, Russia having limited HRC export volumes for September and being not aggressive to sell might also support Turkey’s expected uptrend for HRC.
Indian HRC exporters failed in their attempt to push up prices and rolled it back this week, reacting to bearish conditions in the Asian and Gulf destinations and expecting some improvements in buying sentiment post-holiday season in Europe, however, they are still not so aggressive. Ex-India HRC prices were in the range of $575-585/mt FOB against $580-590/mt FOB a week ago. Market sources said the latest deal was reported by an eastern region integrated mill for a small tonnage to a UAE based buyer at around $580/mt FOB (up to $630/mt CFR), while higher offers from most other mills did not receive responses. In Vietnam, the indicative level for ex-India boron-added SAE1006 coils has been heard at $600/mt CFR, translating to $570/mt FOB. But according to market sources, this is primary level from traders, while mills have been either not offering due to tight competition or giving the price ideas at $610-620/mt CFR as the lowest. Customers are not interested in buying ex-India material at such high prices, having Taiwanese options at $595/mt CFR.
In China, export offers for boron-added SS400 HRC given by major Chinese mills have come down to $600-610/mt FOB, with a midpoint at $605/mt FOB, down by $10/mt week on week. Meanwhile, the tradable level for ex-China SS400 HRC has also declined over the past week to $570-605/mt FOB, depending on destination, versus $580-610/mt FOB a week ago. According to market insiders, several deals for ex-China SS400 coils have been signed at $585-595/mt CFR Vietnam, down by $15/mt compared to offers at the beginning of last week. However, the rebounding trend of HRC futures has bolstered HRC export prices to some extent, and a few traders have reportedly increased their offers for Vietnamese customers to $600/mt CFR. At the same time, although HRC prices in the Chinese domestic market edged down over the past week, this week has started with more positive sentiment. As a result, domestic HRC prices in China are at RMB 4,010-4,130/mt ($584-602/mt) ex-warehouse on August 26, with the average price level RMB 125/mt ($18/mt) higher as compared to August 19, according to SteelOrbis’ data.
In Vietnam, the situation in the HRC import market has not improved much over the past week with buyers being still bearish, while most HRC suppliers have maintained their offers for Vietnam mainly unchanged. Foreign suppliers like those from Japan and Taiwan have been offering their SAE1006 HRC at around $600-620/mt CFR. However, some offers for ex-Taiwan coils have also been voiced at $590-595/mt CFR, same as last week. The indicative offers for ex-India boron-added HRC have been heard at $600-615/mt CFR, compared to $600/mt CFR, while almost no offers for ex-China SAE1006 HRC have been heard in Vietnam this week, with the indicative level standing at around $620-630/mt CFR, same as last week. As a result, the SteelOrbis’ reference price for import SAE1006 HRC in Vietnam has remained unchanged at $590-605/mt CFR.
In Europe, business activities in the HRC market have remained weak in the past week mainly due to the holiday season in the region. Transaction prices have settled at €700-800/mt ex-works, compared to €780-900/mt ex-works in the first week of August, but €50/mt higher from the higher end of range since the beginning of the week. Such uptrend correction was attributed to the price increase of global steel producer ArcelorMittal announced on August 26. Meanwhile, the trade activity in the import HRC segment in southern Europe remained in lull as well. However, this week new import offers have started to appear in the market, reflecting a slight downward correction as compared to early August prices. Thus, import HRC offers have been reported at €670-690/mt CFR, compared to €680-715/mt CFR at the beginning of the month.