There has been no common trend seen in the global HRC market in the past week amid uncertainty in the benchmark Chinese market. There were some increases in offers seen early this week, which resulted in rare bookings for Asian origins. But by the end of the week, ex-China prices have rolled back, impacting other origins. In general, the market is still showing limited demand with absence of European customers due to the holidays and rather poor activity in the MENA region.
Offers for boron-added SS400 HRC from large Chinese mills have remained stable at $490-495/mt FOB. Meanwhile, the tradable price for ex-China HRC from traders settled early this week at $480-490/mt FOB, up by $5/mt week on week, but corrected down to $470-480/mt FOB on Friday. Major Chinese steelmaker Baosteel raised its local base prices by RMB 200/mt ($28/mt) for September and other large mills followed, ensuring positive sentiments in the export market. Moreover, the authorities in Tangshan, the major steelmaking hub in China’s Hebei Province, issued a notice for 35 independent local steel rolling companies, detailing production control requirements for the period from August 16 until September 3, with the production cuts expected to be bigger than in July. This also triggered rises in HRC prices early in the week. However, the fall in coking coal futures on Thursday and Friday and weak demand together with rising inventories have resulted in declines by the end of the week.
Though in general demand for import HRC in Vietnam has been slow, some interest has been seen for Malaysian SAE1006 HRC given its attractive price compared to all other Asian exporters. Around 30,000 mt of ex-Malaysia SAE1006 HRC have been traded at $502/mt CFR for early October shipment to Vietnam over the past week, which was the lowest level for this grade in the market. Offers for the same grade HRC from Indonesia, Japan and South Korea were at $510-520/mt CFR. At the same time, Chinese offers have increased compared to last week, though the uptrend was not very strong with offers rolling back slightly by the end of the week. Offers for ex-China 2,000 mm Q235 HRC, reached the highest level of $500-505/mt CFR in the middle of the week, surging from $487-490/mt CFR seen last week. But by Friday the sellers’ targets have eased a little - to $498/mt CFR.
Indian HRC offers to overseas markets have held largely steady over the past week, with only a mild upward tendency in recent weeks. Mills have continued to prioritize the domestic market, where demand has remained robust, over export opportunities. HRC trade prices have inched up INR 300/mt ($3/mt) to INR 49,200/mt ($562/mt) ex-Mumbai.
Ex-India HRC offers for Europe have increased by around $5/mt week on week, reaching $545-550/mt FOB. According to sources, ex-India HRC has been offered in northern Europe at $598-600/mt CFR, while no offers have been voiced in the south as most customers have already left the market for the summer holidays. Indicative offers for ex-India HRC have settled at $510-520/mt FOB for the Middle East, the same as last week.
No significant change has been seen in Turkish HRC market this week with demand remaining moderate domestically and rather slow for exports due to the EU being on its summer holidays. Chinese offers have settled at $505-520/mt CFR throughout the week for October shipments, down from $515-520/mt CFR seen last week. Despite the long lead time, some suppliers said the bids have slightly improved to $490-500/mt CFR, but still no deals have been done. Instead, the sustainably high offers from China have supported the domestic suppliers in Turkey, who have raised their official offers by $5-10/mt over the past week to $560-570/mt ex-works, with slight discounts considered possible. Some of the mills have started offering for October deliveries, showing they are currently not under huge pressure to sell. As for exports, while most European buyers are on holiday, trade has been almost mute, at least for medium and large lots. The indicative offers for HRC from Turkey have shifted to $550-560/mt FOB officially, although levels $10/mt lower are considered possible in the case of serious orders.
Russian mills have remained active on HRC exports, gradually passing on to sales for October shipments. A sanctioned Russian mill has been offering at $485-490/mt CFR and up to $500/mt CFR to the Middle East, and also to Turkey. The lower end is considered workable for small lots, while in the previous round the sales were closed to various MENA destinations mainly at $465-475/mt CFR, sources reported. The freights for the abovementioned price levels are considered to be in the range of $40-60/mt depending on the destination. The non-sanctioned Russian mill, according to sources, has finished September shipment sales and proceeded with medium lots of October HRC transactions to Turkey at the stable levels of $510-510/mt CFR, with the freight estimated at $20-25/mt depending on the region. In the domestic market, HRC prices in Russia have settled at RUB 64,000-65,000/mt CPT or $668-678/mt CPT at $1 = RUB 79.85 which is more or less in line with last month in the local currency.
In the UAE, the prices for import HRC have increased over the past week, supported by the positive trends in the Asian markets, particularly in Chinese costs based on rises in the raw materials segment, and also owing to production cuts. As a result, ex-China offers for SS400 material have increased by $10/mt over the past week to $510-520/mt CFR in most offers. In addition, the Japanese have sold around 28,000 mt to the UAE and Saudi Arabia at $510-515/mt CFR, up $5-10/mt over the past week. India has remained at $540-550/mt CFR levels, which is already too high for GCC buyers.