Most Pakistani buyers have continued to adopt a wait-and-see stance and have refrained from new bookings amid still weak demand in the country coupled with the currency devaluation and problems with opening LCs. While most foreign suppliers, like those from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan have rolled over their offers, suppliers from China have raised their HRC offers to Pakistani customers.
Accordingly, Chinese suppliers have increased their offers for SS400 HRC to Pakistan to around $650/mt CFR, up by $40/mt over the past two weeks. Meanwhile, ex-China offers for SAE1006 HRC have settled at $665-675/mt CFR, compared to around $630/mt CFR two weeks ago. This increase was driven by better sentiments in China caused by the sharp increase in futures prices, which by Wednesday, August 3, gained around RMB 146/mt ($22/mt) week on week. However, according to market insiders, the situation in China is still unclear and many people doubt a further strong uptrend will be seen considering the recent political tensions caused by the visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan. “This visit has started to affect sentiments in the financial market,” a market insider said. In particular, although futures prices have increased week on week, on August 3 futures dropped by RMB 33/mt ($5/mt) compared to the previous day, according to SteelOrbis’ data.
In the meantime, suppliers from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan have mainly rolled over their HRC offers to Pakistan. In particular, ex-Japan offers for SAE1006 HRC have been heard at $650/mt CFR, while offers from South Korea and Taiwan have been voiced at $660-670/mt CFR, the same as two weeks ago.