Monitoring the situation in the global market, Pakistani customers of hot rolled coils (HRC) have preferred to take their time to evaluate current developments. As a result, the main foreign HRC suppliers like those from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan have continued to revise their offers in order to obtain orders, though most of them have failed to conclude new bookings considering another dramatic fall in Chinese offers.
Accordingly, Chinese traders have decreased their position cargoes’ offers for SS400 HRC to Pakistan to $590-610/mt CFR, down by $20-30/mt week on week. Meanwhile, ex-China offers for SAE1006 HRC have settled at around $620-630/mt CFR, compared to $640-650/mt CFR at the end of last week and down by around $90/mt over the past two weeks. This decrease was driven by the sharp drop in futures prices, which by Friday, July 15, lost around RMB 473/mt ($70/mt) week on week.
In the meantime, ex-Japan offers for SAE1006 HRC have been heard at $650/mt CFR, down by $30-40/mt week on week. “We heard Japanese mills were offering at $680-690/mt CFR Pakistan last week. Now $650/mt CFR is targeted by mills, but also with no positive response from buyers,” a Pakistani trader told SteelOrbis. Besides, suppliers from South Korea and Taiwan have been offering SAE1006 HRC at $660/mt CFR and asking for bids even below $650/mt CFR, according to sources.