Chinese HRC traders watch the market
2023-03-21 08:17:09 [Print]
BEIJING (Asian Metal) 21 Mar 23 - Facing the price decrease and the improving demand, domestic HRC traders adopt wait-and-see attitudes towards the market prospect. Some decreased prices further, and some maintained prices temporarily flat. At present, the prevailing prices of HRC Q235B 5.75mm*1,500mm*C hover at RMB4,360/t (USD632/t), RMB4,370/t (USD634/t) and RMB4,280/t (USD620/t) D/P respectively in warehouses Tangshan, Guangzhou and Shenyang, with the former two down by RMB20/t (USD3/t) and RMB30/t (USD4/t) and the latter one stable from the last trading day. Upon the watchful atmosphere in the market, insiders foresee slight price decline in the following two or three days.
"Though the demand from downstream industries improves day by day, end users keep cautious about purchasing discouraged by the sudden price drop since the middle of last week. To promote sales, we moved down prices further on Monday," noted a trader in Tangshan, quoting RMB4,360/t (USD632/t) without concession for HRC Q235B 5.75mm*1,500mm*C. Adopting wait-and-see attitude towards the market prospect, the trader disclosed that steel mills remain eager to maintain prices firm supported by the high production costs, but the low purchasing activities of end users forced traders to decrease prices. The trader just sold 100t of the material at RMB4,360/t (USD632/t) and last sold 200t at RMB4,380/t (USD635/t) last Sunday. The trader worries prices of HRC would go down slightly in the forthcoming several days in view of the cautious purchasing attitudes of end users.
Holding around 1,000t in stock, the trader might sell 5,000t in March, up from 4,000t in February. With the regular monthly sales volume of 6,000t, he estimates that the sales volume would reach 12,000t in the first quarter of 2023, against 70,000t more or less in 2022.
"Downstream customers remain inactive in purchasing. On Monday, we moved down prices of HRC Q235B 5.75mm*1,500mm*C to RMB4,370/t (USD634/t), but a regular buyer required purchasing 200t at RMB4,350/t (USD631/t) and we refused. We last sold 500t of the material at RMB4,400/t (USD638/t) last Saturday," stated a trader in Guangzhou, who expects for a slight price rebound in the coming several days seeing the recovering demand and reduced supply from steel mills. "One major steel mill announced to reduce the delivery of HRC to 50%-80% from last week, together with the improving demand, leading to the reduced inventory in the market, and we remain not in a hurry to sell now," noted the trader, adding that benefited from the warming exports, local demand for HRC gets stronger day by day.
Based on the regular monthly sales volume of 13,000t, the trader would sell 12,000t in March, down from 10,000t in February. The sales volume in the first quarter of 2023 would reach 32,000t, and he totally sold about 150,000t in 2022, holding approximately 16,000t of stocks at present.
Adopting wait-and-see attitude towards the market prospect, a trader in Shenyang maintained prices flat on Monday. Offering RMB4,280/t (USD620/t) without concession for HRC Q235B 5.75mm*1,500mm*C, he last sold 200t of the material at the same price last Friday. "We remained not a in a hurry to sell and stopped selling after 200t last Friday, believing prices have chance to go up next week," noted the trader, who sold 200t of the material at RMB4,280/t (USD620/t) on Monday. According to him, the demand from downstream industries improves gradually, and the market inventory declines with the reduced delivery from steel mills. In addition, prices of raw materials fluctuate at the high level.
Presently, the trader holds around 2,500t in stock. With the typical monthly sales volume of 4,000t, the trader might sell 3,500t in March, up from 3,000t in February. He estimates that the sales volume would achieve 9,000t in the first quarter of 2023, against 32,500t or so in 2022.
"Though the demand from downstream industries improves day by day, end users keep cautious about purchasing discouraged by the sudden price drop since the middle of last week. To promote sales, we moved down prices further on Monday," noted a trader in Tangshan, quoting RMB4,360/t (USD632/t) without concession for HRC Q235B 5.75mm*1,500mm*C. Adopting wait-and-see attitude towards the market prospect, the trader disclosed that steel mills remain eager to maintain prices firm supported by the high production costs, but the low purchasing activities of end users forced traders to decrease prices. The trader just sold 100t of the material at RMB4,360/t (USD632/t) and last sold 200t at RMB4,380/t (USD635/t) last Sunday. The trader worries prices of HRC would go down slightly in the forthcoming several days in view of the cautious purchasing attitudes of end users.
Holding around 1,000t in stock, the trader might sell 5,000t in March, up from 4,000t in February. With the regular monthly sales volume of 6,000t, he estimates that the sales volume would reach 12,000t in the first quarter of 2023, against 70,000t more or less in 2022.
"Downstream customers remain inactive in purchasing. On Monday, we moved down prices of HRC Q235B 5.75mm*1,500mm*C to RMB4,370/t (USD634/t), but a regular buyer required purchasing 200t at RMB4,350/t (USD631/t) and we refused. We last sold 500t of the material at RMB4,400/t (USD638/t) last Saturday," stated a trader in Guangzhou, who expects for a slight price rebound in the coming several days seeing the recovering demand and reduced supply from steel mills. "One major steel mill announced to reduce the delivery of HRC to 50%-80% from last week, together with the improving demand, leading to the reduced inventory in the market, and we remain not in a hurry to sell now," noted the trader, adding that benefited from the warming exports, local demand for HRC gets stronger day by day.
Based on the regular monthly sales volume of 13,000t, the trader would sell 12,000t in March, down from 10,000t in February. The sales volume in the first quarter of 2023 would reach 32,000t, and he totally sold about 150,000t in 2022, holding approximately 16,000t of stocks at present.
Adopting wait-and-see attitude towards the market prospect, a trader in Shenyang maintained prices flat on Monday. Offering RMB4,280/t (USD620/t) without concession for HRC Q235B 5.75mm*1,500mm*C, he last sold 200t of the material at the same price last Friday. "We remained not a in a hurry to sell and stopped selling after 200t last Friday, believing prices have chance to go up next week," noted the trader, who sold 200t of the material at RMB4,280/t (USD620/t) on Monday. According to him, the demand from downstream industries improves gradually, and the market inventory declines with the reduced delivery from steel mills. In addition, prices of raw materials fluctuate at the high level.
Presently, the trader holds around 2,500t in stock. With the typical monthly sales volume of 4,000t, the trader might sell 3,500t in March, up from 3,000t in February. He estimates that the sales volume would achieve 9,000t in the first quarter of 2023, against 32,500t or so in 2022.
