As expected, with bullish sentiments mounting in the Chinese HRC market lately, new offers for ex-China hot rolled coil (HRC) have increased in Pakistan, though most buyers have not been in a hurry to accept the new levels. Other suppliers have been rather silent and so very limited offers have been voiced for ex-Japan and ex-Taiwan HRC, mainly at the same levels as last week.
Accordingly, this week offers for ex-China SS400 HRC have been voiced at $545-547/mt CFR for December shipment, up by around $20-25/mt over the past two weeks. Meanwhile, according to sources, several deals for small tonnages are reported to have been booked at $540/mt CFR, against deal prices at $525-527/mt CFR two weeks ago.
Meanwhile, ex-China offers for SAE1006 HRC have gained around $15/mt over the past two weeks, reaching $575/mt CFR for January shipment, while SAE1006 HRC for only 2 mm has been quoted at $585/mt CFR.
The increase was mainly driven by better sentiments in China caused by higher HRC futures prices during the past week. Notably, as of November 2, HRC futures prices at Shanghai Futures Exchange are standing at RMB 3,858/mt (537/mt), moving up by RMB 63/mt ($8.8/mt) or 1.7 percent compared to October 26.
At the same time, other foreign suppliers like those from South Korea have remained out of the Pakistani market for a few consecutive weeks. Indicative offers for ex-Japan SA1006 HRC have been voiced at $580/mt CFR, the same as two weeks ago, while no new offers have been heard from Taiwanese suppliers so far, after a deal for around 10,000 mt was reported at $565/mt CFR last week.
