Posted on 21 Feb 2023
China's hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices under Mysteel's assessment increased over February 10-17, and trading activities in the spot sales market also picked up, a market insider said.
As of February 17, the spot price of Q235 4.75mm HRC had risen by Yuan 50/tonne ($7.3/t) from February 10 to Yuan 4,280/t including the 13% VAT, according to Mysteel's assessment.
Many traders gained confidence and lifted their offering prices after noting the rise in HRC futures prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE), a Shanghai-based analyst said.
The most-traded HRC contract on the SHFE for May delivery closed the daytime trading session at Yuan 4,240/t on February 17, up by Yuan 99/t from the settlement price of February 10, according to the official data.
Many end-users were active in buying HRC last week, fearing that coil prices would strengthen further, he added.
HRC stocks at trading houses across the 33 Chinese cities under Mysteel's tracking dropped by 84,600 tonnes or 2.7% on week to around 3 million tonnes as of February 16, while HRC inventories held by 37 surveyed mills eased by 20,600 tonnes or 2.2% on week to 898,200 tonnes as of February 15.
Over February 9-15, production of hot coils among the 37 Chinese steelmakers stood at 3.1 million tonnes, down by 3,900 tonnes or 0.1% on week. During the same survey period, the sampled mills' hot-rolling capacity also slipped by 0.1 percentage point to 78.63%, Mysteel's data showed.
The analyst predicted that HRC prices will strengthen this week, as the decline in stocks at trading houses will give a boost to the prices.
Source:Mysteel Global
