Thai HRC market inactive
2023-03-17 08:22:21 [Print]
BEIJING (Asian Metal) 17 Mar 23 - Both traders and customers adopt wait-and-see attitudes towards the market prospect at the moment, and the HRC market in Thailand runs slowly. Presently, the mainstream prices of HRC SS400 3.0mm*1,500mm hover at THB26,000-27,000/t (USD754-783/t) D/P in warehouse Bangkok, similar to early this week. Insiders foresee stable prices of HRC in the coming several days upon the watchful atmosphere in the market.
"The government announced the decision to cancel the anti-dumping duty of HRC from China and Malaysia on Tuesday, which means the import materials will pour in and the prices hard to go up further after the markup of around THB900/t (USD26/t) in the past two weeks. Therefore, end users hold back from purchasing. After tough negotiations, we sold 20t of HRC SS400 3.0mm*1,500mm at THB26,200/t (USD760/t) when quoting THB26,500/t (USD768/t) on Thursday, while could sell 20t easily early this month," disclosed a local trader. In the meantime, he pointed out that the demand from downstream industries remains sluggish and most downstream plants fail to run with full production capacity dragged by insufficient orders for final products. Upon the dim market but firm prices from steel mills, the trader predicts stable prices of HRC in the following several days.
The trader might sell 230t of HRC in March, down from 250t in February. With the regular monthly sales volume of 400t, he would sell 760t in the first quarter of 2023, against 3,700t or so in 2022, holding around 400t in stock at the moment.
"A regular buyer required purchasing 35t of HRC SS400 3.0mm*1,500mm at THB26,700/t (USD774/t) when we offered THB27,000/t (USD783/t) on Thursday, and we had to accept seeing the potential supply increase," revealed another local trader. "We could sell 100t a day easily early this month when prices showed signs of edging up, but the market calmed down gradually dragged by the weak demand," added the trader. According to him, downstream projects fail to operate smoothly due to the absence of capital support from the government, and thus the demand for HRC remains soft. Considering that the downstream demand hard to improve before the General Election in May, the trader worries about a price decline in the forthcoming several days.
Holding around 1,500t of stocks, the trader estimates that the sales volume would achieve 1,800t in March, up from 1,500t in February. Based on the typical monthly sales volume of 2,100t, the trader might sell 5,100t in the first quarter of 2023, against 25,000t in 2022.
"The government announced the decision to cancel the anti-dumping duty of HRC from China and Malaysia on Tuesday, which means the import materials will pour in and the prices hard to go up further after the markup of around THB900/t (USD26/t) in the past two weeks. Therefore, end users hold back from purchasing. After tough negotiations, we sold 20t of HRC SS400 3.0mm*1,500mm at THB26,200/t (USD760/t) when quoting THB26,500/t (USD768/t) on Thursday, while could sell 20t easily early this month," disclosed a local trader. In the meantime, he pointed out that the demand from downstream industries remains sluggish and most downstream plants fail to run with full production capacity dragged by insufficient orders for final products. Upon the dim market but firm prices from steel mills, the trader predicts stable prices of HRC in the following several days.
The trader might sell 230t of HRC in March, down from 250t in February. With the regular monthly sales volume of 400t, he would sell 760t in the first quarter of 2023, against 3,700t or so in 2022, holding around 400t in stock at the moment.
"A regular buyer required purchasing 35t of HRC SS400 3.0mm*1,500mm at THB26,700/t (USD774/t) when we offered THB27,000/t (USD783/t) on Thursday, and we had to accept seeing the potential supply increase," revealed another local trader. "We could sell 100t a day easily early this month when prices showed signs of edging up, but the market calmed down gradually dragged by the weak demand," added the trader. According to him, downstream projects fail to operate smoothly due to the absence of capital support from the government, and thus the demand for HRC remains soft. Considering that the downstream demand hard to improve before the General Election in May, the trader worries about a price decline in the forthcoming several days.
Holding around 1,500t of stocks, the trader estimates that the sales volume would achieve 1,800t in March, up from 1,500t in February. Based on the typical monthly sales volume of 2,100t, the trader might sell 5,100t in the first quarter of 2023, against 25,000t in 2022.
