WEEKLY: China's steel export prices decline slowly
As of May 17, the export price of China-origin SS400 4.75mm hot-rolled coil (HRC) was assessed at $776/tonne FOB from North China's Tianjin port, down by just $4/t on week, as against the prior on-week drop of $30/t. The export price of SPCC 1.0mm cold-rolled coil (CRC) came in at $854/t FOB from Tianjin port on the same day, dipping by $2/t from one week before, which was also much lower than the on-week fall of $39/t during the prior week, according to Mysteel's assessment.
The further decrease was mainly attributed to poor demand in overseas markets, though Chinese export prices were still competitive globally, industry sources said.
"We have received some inquires recently but new orders are still scarce, as many overseas buyers are in no hurry to place new orders after their procurement over the previous period," an export trader in East China's Zhejiang said.
The weakness in prices also aggravated the wait-and-see sentiment prevalent in international markets. "Traders from other countries are unwilling to build up stocks given the depressed demand from local end-users," she added.
However, the decrease in Chinese steel export prices slowed significantly this week, as major domestic steel mills are likely to give priority to ensuring availability for domestic customers and controlling their export volume, given the central government's request to lower crude steel output further this year from that for 2021. Moreover, Beijing is also discouraging the export of low value-added steel products, Mysteel Global noted.
China's domestic flat steel prices have been range-bound recently after the sharp fall over the prior week, with the national price of Q235 4.75mm HRC under Mysteel's assessment reaching Yuan 5,013/tonne ($743/t) including the 13% VAT as of May 17, up by just Yuan 1/t from one week earlier.
Written by Nancy Zheng, zhengmm@mysteel.com
Edited by Zhenqi Yang, yangzhenqi@mysteel.com
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