During the week ending January 10, average prices in the Chinese domestic hot dip galvanized (HDG) market have edged up slightly, while transaction activity in the market has been at low-to-medium levels. Average HDG prices in the local Chinese market are presented in the following table.
During the given week, following the New Year holiday steel futures prices have increased at Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE). In addition, major domestic steelmaker Baosteel has issued its ex-works prices for February and March delivery, keeping its HDG prices stable for February, while raising them by RMB 50/mt ($7.3/mt) for March, which will bolster HDG prices in the domestic market. Moreover, China's central bank announced on January 4 that it will cut the reserve requirement for most banks by 100 basis points, with this development providing support for prices of HDG. Meanwhile, inventories in the HDG market are at relatively low levels, which will also bolster HDG prices. With the Chinese New Year holiday (February 2-10) approaching, downstream users will start to go on holiday as of January 15, while HDG producers will likely halt production from January 22. It is thought that HDG prices in the Chinese domestic market will likely move sideways in the coming week.
Product name |
Spec. |
Quality |
City |
Steel plant/origin |
Price (RMB/mt) |
Price ($/mt) |
Weekly change (RMB/mt) |
Thick galvanized coils |
1.0 mm x 1,250 mm x C |
SGCC |
Shanghai |
Angang |
4,810 |
708 |
↑10 |
Guangzhou |
Angang |
4,220 |
622 |
↑40 |
|||
Boxing |
Angang |
4,880 |
719 |
↓10 |
|||
Average |
- |
4,636 |
683 |
↑13 |
|||
Thin galvanized coils |
0.5 mm x 1,000 mm x C |
SGCC |
Shanghai |
Tangsteel |
5,250 |
773 |
↑10 |
Guangzhou |
Guofeng |
4,440 |
654 |
↑40 |
|||
Boxing |
Fengming |
4,630 |
682 |
↓10 |
|||
Average |
- |
4,773 |
703 |
↑13 |
16 percent VAT is included in all prices and all prices are ex-warehouse.
$1 = 6.79 RMB