Global HRC/CRC Offers Hit One Year-High amid Bullish Sentiments

With upcoming ‘International Horticultural Expo’ in China, production cuts are planned in major steel producing province of Hebei resulting in price hikes in country’s domestic market.

Flat products offers from key countries like China, Russia, Japan/Korea have surged considerably in past one week in the wake of uptrend in Chinese market.

Hike in Chinese Offers

HRC/CRC offers from China have surged by about USD 40-60/MT this week against last week. Current offers from China for HRC(SS400) are heard at USD 345-350/MT whereas for CRC offers are heard at USD 430-440/MT, FoB China basis.

The domestic prices in China are on a rally and market participants there are not much interested in export market. As per SteelMint sources, no trades are being heard at the above rates.

Reason Behind Price Rally

The key reason for price surge in China’s domestic market is upcoming International Horticultural Exposition in Tangshan, a major steel producing city in Hebei province.

The expo will open on 29 Apr’16 and will close on 16 Oct’16. Due to this the steel companies in Tangshan will go for major production cuts for environmental reasons. And thus Chinese steel mills are using this reason to hike prices.

CIS Countries & Korean Flat Offers

Following the recovery in Chinese market, Russia and Korea have also raised their flat products export prices. Currently HRC offers from CIS countries are heard at USD 310-330/MT whereas CRC is assessed in the range of USD 330-360/MT, FoB Black Sea.

HRC offers from Korea are assessed at USD 320/MT, FoB basis. However, market participants there are also in to ‘wait and see’ mode and are waiting for prices to stabilize.

HRC/CRC Price Analysis

*Prices exclude taxes
Source: SteelMint Research