Posted on 15 Feb 2023
Chinese hot rolled coil sales are dominating the Gulf Cooperation Council market amid the absence of major Indian and Japanese mills. An Indian major reduced its HRC offer by $20/tonne on the last round of sales concluded two weeks ago for 25,000 tonnes to be shipped in February, Kallanish notes.
This week in the bloc, Chinese mills concluded deals for 1.2mm SPHT-1 tube-making grade HRC at $745/t cfr Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and at $733/t cfr Dammam. 1.8mm and 6.4mm thick S235JR and A36 grades were concluded at $710-715/t cfr Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates for late-March/early-April shipment.
Meanwhile, the Indian major reduced its re-rolling grade (SAE 1006) offer to $725/t cfr Jebel Ali for late-March shipment, of which 2mm thickness comprises a maximum of 40% of the total order. The deal concluded two weeks ago was at $745-750/t cfr Jebel Ali for February shipment.
The South Korean HRC offer for 2mm+ SAE 1006 grade was heard at $775/t cfr UAE, whilst ex-Taiwan is quoted at $715-720/t cfr, both for late-March/April shipment.
A trader's offer, believed to be a Chinese SAE 1006 grade HRC position cargo, at $705/t cfr UAE is not inducing interest due to its sizes not matching buyers' requirements.
"Turkish imported HRC demand is increasing for building containerised residential units to accommodate people who lost their houses in earthquake-hit areas. This elevated Chinese HRC price offers $15/t on-day in Turkey. Container building facilities in Turkey started booking meaningful quantities of HRC this week, which undeniably may lift HRC prices,” says a sell-side source.
A major Japanese mill is expected to float its price offer next week for late-April shipment. An Australian mill, who sold to re-rollers in the region last September and October, is mulling allocating some quantities to the GCC market for May and June. If GCC demand increases, the mill may move allocation forward to April.
"While Chinese HRC offers started softening last week, we are observing a slight [price] rebound trend this week [in international markets],” says a buy-side source, referring especially to Turkey.
Source:Kallanish
