While domestic producer Wuhan Iron and Steel Co. (WISCO) has increased its HDG list prices for August shipment, Baosteel has announced unchanged HDG offers for August. However, rumors are currently circulating that Baosteel has partially cancelled its preferential price policy for its distributors. On the whole, however, major steel producers in China have been inclined to raise their prices.
In the past week, the low end of the price range has moved up in the Chinese HDG market. At the same time, some traders have limited their sales of inventory materials, as their concerns over possible further decreases in prices have diminished.
Nevertheless, local HDG prices may still encounter some resistance to their upward movement from some degree of sluggishness on the demand side. It is expected that domestic HDG prices in China will vary within a narrow range in the near term.