Aiming to take advantage of the ongoing uptrend in the global market, most foreign hot rolled coil (HRC) suppliers are not in a hurry to announce offers to Pakistan. According to sources, only China-based traders are ready to supply material within the nearest terms. Last week, Pakistani pipe mills booked a few lots (up to 5,000 mt each) of ex-China SS400B HRC at $578-585/mt CFR Karachi, SteelOrbis has learned. “HRC is in short supply here now. The indicative level for SAE1006 HRC is $630/mt CFR. However, even at these rates it is unavailable,” the representative of a local flats mill stated. “No one is offering except Chinese traders. Re-rollers expect $610-620/mt CFR in new offers from Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. However, who knows? The market is like a pole vault now,” another source commented.
As SteelOrbis reported earlier, at the beginning of November Pakistani re-rollers purchased about 50,000 mt of ex-Japan HRC at $555-560/mt CFR, for January shipment.