During the week ending May 8, average prices of pre-painted galvanized iron (PPGI) in the Chinese domestic market have moved up compared to April 24, while transaction activity in the domestic market has been at low-to-medium levels.
Offer prices of ex-China PPGI have been heard at $625-640/mt, rising by $5/mt on average compared to April 24.
Average PPGI prices in the local Chinese market are presented in the following table.
| Specification (mm) | Category | Average price (RMB/mt) | Weekly change (RMB/mt) | Price ($/mt) |
Weekly change ($/mt) |
| 0.476 x 1,000 | CGCC | 4,857 | 67 | 709 | 10 |
| 0.426 x 1,000 | CGCC | 5,017 | 67 | 732 | 10 |
13 percent VAT is included in all prices and all prices are ex-warehouse.
During the given week, PPGI prices in the Chinese domestic market have moved on an uptrend amid increasing capacity utilization rates on the PPGI producers’ side. HRC prices have moved up sharply following the Labor Day holiday (May 1-5), providing solid support for PPGI prices. At the same time, inventories of PPGI have decreased and have been at relatively low levels over the past three years, exerting a positive impact on prices. However, destocking has slowed down recently, which may weaken the support for prices. It is expected that PPGI prices in the Chinese domestic market will edge up slightly in the coming week.
As of May 8, HRC futures at Shanghai Futures Exchange are standing at RMB 3,473/mt ($507/mt), increasing by RMB 81/mt ($11.8/mt) or 2.4 percent since April 24, while decreasing by 0.06 percent compared to the previous trading day, May 7.
$1 = RMB 6.8502
