Chinese hot rolled coil (HRC) export offers have started to rebound following the previous long-standing downtrend as demand in the local market has improved with more players returning to the market, while many deals have already been done in the export market.
At present, export offers for boron-added SS400 HRC given by major Chinese mills are at $475-480/mt FOB for late April delivery, up $10-15/mt today, February 25, and up $20-25/mt from the lowest level of deals signed last week. "Some steelmakers got sufficient orders at low prices last week, thereby they increased offer prices for HRC," a source said. There have been some offers at some lower levels recently - at $465-470/mt FOB, but major manufacturers have not been giving this level. Some transactions have been heard at $470/mt FOB, but sales destination and details of sales have not been confirmed by the time of publication.
At the same time, with higher offer prices the difference between prices from China and other major exporters have narrowed and customers may change their focus to products of other origins. At the moment, offers for SAE1006 HRC from China have been heard at $480-490/mt CFR Vietnam, while prices from other sources, from South Korea and Japan in particular, are at $495/mt CFR, the same as last week.
“Following China’s continuous efforts to stimulate enterprises to resume production, industries in China are gradually returning to the market, exerting a positive impact on the steel market,” an international trader told SteelOrbis. The local Chinese HRC market has indicated rises due to the improvement seen in demand from downstream users. Domestic HRC prices in China are at RMB 3,430-3,570/mt ($488-508/mt) ex-warehouse on February 25, with the average price level RMB 80/mt ($11.4/mt) higher as compared to February 18, according to SteelOrbis’ data.
As of February 25, HRC futures at the Shanghai Future Exchange are standing at RMB 3,490/mt ($497/mt), increasing by RMB 76/mt ($10.8/mt) or 2.2 percent since February 18.
$1 = RMB 7.0232