During the week ending December 23, hot rolled coil (HRC) prices in the Chinese domestic market have indicated an overall downtrend, while transaction activity in the market has been at poor levels. Average HRC prices in the local Chinese market can be viewed in the SteelOrbis price reports section.
During the given week, the declining trend seen in HRC futures prices in China has contributed to the downward movement of prices in the domestic HRC spot market. Demand from downstream users has been slack. Large traders with a complete range of specifications manage to sell around 1,000 mt of HRC per day, while other traders only sell around 500 mt per day. Semi-finished steel prices in Tangshan indicated relatively sharp declines of RMB 50/mt ($8/mt) last weekend, causing traders to be pessimistic as regards the future prospects for the HRC market. It is expected that HRC prices in the Chinese domestic market will continue their downtrend in the coming week.
$1 = RMB 6.23