Chinese mills reduce prices for Flat products

Chinese flats suppliers are in distress. Last week domestic
and export quotations of their material tended to stabilize on the back of
rallying demand abroad and increasing iron ore prices, but now demand for
Chinese flats has started to decline again. As a result, local exporters have 
been forced to cut prices, especially as raw material quotations have started
falling again.

Offers for cold
rolled coil (CRC) to India have dried up as prices for the material in
China continues to be lower than export offers.

Chinese mills which usually export large quantities of CRC
to India are not willing to bring down their export offer below $710-720 per
tonne cfr Mumbai i.e higher than current domestic prices in India, according to
market participants.

Indian importers are currently selling cold rolled coils in
the domestic market at Rs 44,000-44,500 ($810-819) per tonne inclusive of tax. Whereas, the Chinese material is imported at a lower price level of $710 per tonne
CFR.