This week, new offers for imported HRC have kept rising in Pakistan mainly given the continuous bullishness in Chinese HRC futures prices. At the same time, while trade activity has remained in general rather weak, almost all offers have been coming from China, while other suppliers either were still out of the market or as in the case of Japan have announced offers which are too high for Pakistani customers.
Specifically, new offers for ex-China Q195 HRC have been heard in Pakistan at $570/mt CFR, up by $20/mt week on week, while offers for SS400 HRC have been hiked to the level of $580/mt CFR and higher, against $560/mt CFR last week, for December-January shipment. Besides, ex-China SAE1006 HRC offers have been given by traders at $590/mt CFR, while those coming from Chinese first-tier mills have been voiced at $605/mt CFR for mid-January shipment.
The increase has mainly been driven by better sentiment in China caused by higher HRC futures prices during the past week. Notably, as of November 16, HRC futures prices at the Shanghai Future Exchange reached RMB 4,048/mt (564/mt), moving up by RMB 95/mt ($13.2/mt) or 2.4 percent compared to November 9.
Meanwhile, other suppliers have remained silent both in terms of offers and sales in Pakistan this week. According to sources, only some ex-Japan SAE1006 HRC offers have been voiced at as high as $630/mt CFR, while sellers from Taiwan and South Korea have been staying out of the market so far.
