Ex-China HRC offer prices have moved up visibly in the past week following the uptrend in the previous week, amid rises in local prices in China, even though overseas customers have been very cautious in purchases.
At present, export offers for boron-added SS400 HRC given by major Chinese mills are at $900-950/mt FOB for September shipment, with a midpoint at $925/mt FOB, moving up by $25/mt on average compared to late last week. “The continuous rising trend in HRC futures prices following the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China has bolstered ex-China HRC prices,” an international trader told SteelOrbis.
The tradable price level for SS400 coils has increased to $900-910/mt FOB lately. And though this level could be achieved by small mills from China, deals have been very limited and the majority of buyers believe that to attract deals the price should still be slightly below $900/mt FOB.
The workable price level for SAE1006 HRC from Chinese small mills and traders has been reported at $910-920/mt FOB. But Vietnamese customers are still reluctant to buy from China as they managed to get an attractive price from India last week. Moreover, “now all customers are waiting for new prices from Formosa. The Covid situation is still bad. No one is in the mood to import,” a source said. Formosa Ha Tinh is expected to announce its prices on Thursday or Friday this week.
During the given week, domestic HRC prices have indicated big rises amid bullish sentiments due to the rising trend of HRC futures prices. At the same time, demand from downstream users is still not high, which negatively affects transaction activities. It is thought that HRC prices in the Chinese domestic market will likely fluctuate within a limited range in the coming week.
Domestic HRC prices in China are at RMB 5,630-5,820/mt ($869-899/mt) ex-warehouse on July 13, with the average price level RMB 210/mt ($32.4/mt) higher as compared to July 6, according to SteelOrbis’ data. Compared with the price level on Monday, July 12, average local quotations are RMB 15/mt ($2.3/mt) lower.
As of July 13, HRC futures at the Shanghai Futures Exchange are standing at RMB 5,867/mt ($906/mt), increasing by RMB 263/mt ($40.6/mt) or 4.7 percent since July 6.
$1 = RMB 6.4757