After the resumption of business activity in China following the Golden Week and National Day holidays, import hot rolled coil (HRC) prices in Pakistan have been trending up.
Accordingly, this week ex-China SS400B HRC offers to Pakistan have settled at $530/mt CFR, while SAE1006 HRC offers have been voiced at $540/mt CFR. All the material is destined for end of December shipment. Meanwhile, as SteelOrbis reported earlier, before the Chinese holidays, Pakistan’s customers booked small lots of SS400B HRC at $515-518/mt CFR Karachi.
South Korean producer POSCO is targeting $550/mt CFR Pakistan, although most market participants have expected that the new offers will hardly be higher than $535-540/mt CFR. Japanese and Taiwanese HRC suppliers are expected to follow the same price policy.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s HRC customers are not in a hurry to accept higher offers, though demand is still relatively high. “Pipe makers expect that Chinese HRC prices will be reduced next week, and so a wait-and-see policy is adopted”, a Pakistani source commented.
SteelOrbis has been informed of the most recent booking of about ex-Ukraine 25,000 mt of HRC at $490/mt CFR Karachi, done a week ago.