Prices for hot rolled coils (HRC) in the major markets have continued to increase this week, though at a slower pace than recorded in previous weeks. While demand has not improved much in Asia, most major global HRC suppliers have been counting on a sales expansion to higher-priced destinations. Thus, the import trade has remained rather active in Turkey, with several large lots reported to have been sold from Russia and China. European buyers, however, have been rather cautions this week, having booked only limited volumes from Asia, while local HRC prices have kept rising in the EU. Suppliers from India have maintained their offers at high levels, though trade has remained occasional due to limited export allocations.
Turkey’s HRC market has remained active and some price increases have been seen this week, with suppliers, domestic and foreign, succeeding in concluding new sales. Locally, prices have settled at $850-870/mt ex-works for June deliveries, and some mills claim they are almost sold out for the given month. One producer in the Iskenderun region is still out of the market and the limited supply still urges local buyers to restock. In addition, domestic demand for coated and cold rolled products has remained at decent levels, also resulting in some feedstock purchases. The interest in the import material has also remained rather high in Turkey. In fact, at least one cargo has been booked from China at $710/mt CFR and later another 30,000 mt were traded at $722/mt CFR, for April-May shipments. Afterwards, the offer price increased to $730-735/mt CFR. Russia has also succeeded in selling close to 30,000 mt of HRC to Turkey, starting from around $780/mt CFR and up to $800-815/mt CFR in the most recent transactions.
Although the uptrend still lacks the support of demand from users, European HRC producers have continued to target further increases in their product prices this week, as expected. Mills’ HRC offers have increased to €800-850/mt ex-works, versus €800-830/mt ex-works last week. In particular, in the latest offers for May-June shipment HRC, Italian mills are voicing €800-830/mt ex-works, the same as last week, with the tradable offers reported at €790-795/mt ex-works. Mills in northern European have settled their offers at €830-850/mt ex-works, versus €800-850/mt last week, and up to €860/mt ex-works in some cases, though the workable level has been estimated at around €820/mt ex-works, according to sources. Meanwhile, foreign HRC suppliers have been bullish as well, increasing their offers to southern European buyers to €755-800/mt CFR, depending on the origin, up by €10-30/mt over the past week. The lower end of the range corresponds to ex-Vietnam HRC at €755-760/mt CFR, the same as last week, with several deals reported at the abovementioned levels. Meanwhile, offers from other Asian suppliers, including those from Japan and South Korea, have been reported at as high as €780-800/mt CFR Spain this week, compared to €760-770/mt CFR last week. Furthermore, offers from India have been voiced at €770-780/mt CFR, up by €5/mt week on week.
Chinese HRC exporters have continued to be more aggressive in increasing their offers given the rising trend of HRC futures prices in China together with the stronger local market. In particular, export offers for boron-added SS400 HRC from the large Chinese mills are at $665-685/mt FOB, for April and May shipments, with the midpoint at $675/mt FOB, up by $5/mt week on week. Meanwhile, the tradable level for ex-China SS400 HRC has also risen, by $10/mt over the past week to $640-660/mt FOB, depending on the destination. Ex-China SS400 offers in Vietnam have been reported at above $650/mt CFR, while for Pakistan they have been voiced at around $680/mt CFR, up by $10/mt week on week. In the SAE1006 HRC segment, offers from Chinese suppliers have been heard at $690/mt CFR Vietnam and above, versus $680-690/mt CFR last week. Meanwhile, offers to Pakistan have been reported at $710-730/mt CFR, up by $10-30/mt week on week. However, while most Asian customers have been rather quiet in terms of purchases, several deals have been reported in Turkey at $710-725/mt CFR for April shipment, while new offers have been voiced at $730-735/mt CFR Turkey this week. Offers for ex-China SAE1006 HRC to the Middle East have been voiced at around $750/mt CFR, versus $730/mt CFR at the beginning of this week. Domestic HRC prices in China are at RMB 4,400-4,450/mt ($632-639/mt) ex-warehouse on March 9, with the average price level RMB 105/mt ($15/mt) higher compared to that recorded on March 2, according to SteelOrbis’ data.
Although business activity has remained slow in Vietnam’s HRC import market this week, import HRC prices have posted another increase. At the same time, Chinese suppliers have remained the most active in offering their SAE1006 HRC, at above $690/mt CFR, compared to $680-690/mt CFR last week. New offers for ex-China SS400 HRC have settled at around $650-660/mt CFR, the same as last week, though cheap offers from Chinese supplier Anfeng Steel have increased by $10/mt week on week to $645/mt CFR, according to sources. Other foreign suppliers have continued to stay out of the Vietnamese market, with the indicative offers for ex-India HRC reported at $735/mt CFR, up by $5-10/mt week on week. The SteelOrbis reference price for import SAE1006 HRC has moved to $690/mt CFR, compared to $680-690/mt CFR last week, given the ongoing increase in import prices.
Ex-India HRC prices have been kept stable at higher levels, but trade activities have been limited to smaller tonnages as sellers have been more selective. Ex-India SAE1006 2 mm HRC prices have remained in the range of $700-750/mt FOB and, while bids at the lower end of the range have been largely rejected, with only small volumes traded at around $720-730/mt FOB to Africa. There has been a lack of available volumes, with most sellers not wanting to confirm deals at low levels, trying to offer at $750/mt FOB or even above to higher-priced markets like the EU. For HRC with May-June shipment, mills’ targets are expected to be revised to around $780-790/mt FOB.
In the UAE, the majority of HRC import prices have started increasing, particularly because ex-China offers started to push up prices. According to sources, UAE offers from China have risen to $710-730/mt CFR for April shipments, up from $690-700/mt CFR earlier. However, certain suppliers have offered higher levels at $760/mt CFR. Notwithstanding India's continuing focus on the European market, some offers to the GCC were given at $750/mt CFR for April shipment, increasing from $720-730/mt CFR previously. In addition, South Korea has raised prices for May-June shipments from $745/mt CFR to $800/mt CFR, while Indonesia has raised its offers to $785/mt CFR.
