China: Shagang rolls over HRC list prices for April sales

Shagang Group (Shagang), China's leading privately-owned steel producer headquartered in East China's Jiangsu, is rolling over domestic list prices of its hot-rolled coils for April sales after it added Yuan 100/tonne ($14.5/t) for March sales, the mill announced to dealers on April 1.

Shagang's HRC list prices, which the steel giant releases every month, are viewed as a bellwether of flat steel market sentiment, Mysteel Global notes. Shagang is the major Chinese steel producer to publicly announce such prices on a regular basis. Competing mills such as Baosteel only reveal price-change increments.

With the latest pricing policy, the steel giant's Q235 5.5mm HRC is now still priced at Yuan 4,600/t for April sales and that for its SPHC 4.0mm HRC also remains at Yuan 4,610/t, both in terms of EXW and including the 13% VAT.

"Recently, demand from end-users showed signs of retreating while falling prices of raw materials also failed to provide cost support for steel prices, prompting the steel giant to roll over its (HRC) list prices," a Shanghai-based source commented.

China's national price of 4.75mm HRC assessed by Mysteel fell by Yuan 16/t from March 3 to Yuan 4,378/t including 13% VAT as of April 3, and Mysteel's SEADEX 62% Australian Fines declined to $122.45/dmt CFR Qingdao by the same day, down by $3.9/dmt from one month earlier.

Written by Villanelle Xia, xiayi@mysteel.com

Note: This article has been published in accordance with an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.