China’s heavy plates (SS400, CFR), export offers registering a sharp decline. Prices have fallen by $30/t w-o-w from $915/t in the first week of November to the current levels of $885/t for shipments for end Dec’21 till the beginning of January next year.
The sharp decline in the export offers is due to the weakening effect of local steel prices in China, according to SteelDaily.
Despite the fact that iron ore prices have fallen sharply, prices of coal have soared, and that of other raw materials has not fallen significantly.
However, despite the local production cuts in China, concerns over a decrease in demand have continued to weaken local futures and spot prices.
There are growing concerns now, with the export offers of heavy plates weakening prices may decline in the domestic market as well.
Outlook
However, many feel that the domestic prices may take longer to get impacted since the freight rates are still high and demand for plates is buoyant from the ship-building industry.
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