Over the past week, the prices of most steel products in China, including HRC, have continued their falling trend, following the overall significant drops in the Chinese steel market in the previous week. Currently, most steelmakers' ex-works prices for March delivery remain high, resulting in low order volumes on the traders' side. For instance, March HRC prices of steelmakers in northern China are estimated to be at around RMB 4,450-4,480/mt ($708-713/mt, including 17 percent VAT), and these materials will arrive in the Shanghai market in April at RMB 500/mt ($79.6/mt) higher than current local market prices. Market participants say they will pay close attention to steelmakers' anticipated price policy announcements for April delivery.
As for the future market, market participants think that, since prices have already declined by a significant margin, Chinese domestic HRC prices would hardly move down further, but will instead move sideways in the coming week.