Domestic HRC Prices in China Increase - 13 Mar'19 Update

The market price of HRC rose by RMB 30/MT, with 3.0mm coils at RMB 3, 780/MT, mainstream 5.5mm flattened at RMB 3, 790/MT, and Q345 flattened at RMB 3, 950/MT, in plain transactional performance.

Yesterday, price of general carbon billet in Tangshan, Changli and Qian'an was settled at RMB 3, 440/MT ex-factory, up RMB 10/MT. In the early morning today, the Changli area took the lead see a RMB 10/MT increase to RMB 3, 450/MT. Before long, it gained another increase of RMB 20/MT to RMB 3, 470/MT. The transaction in billet is plain whilst mainstream finished steel price stabilized though individual saw slight increase. The specific transactions were as follows:

Billet: Mill direct sale is acceptable. Ex-warehouse spot is at RMB 3, 570-3,580/MT with transactions seen at low price. The inventory of billet warehouse Xiangyu Zhengfeng and Haiyi Hongrun in Tangshan totaled 762,100 tons, an increase of 20,700 tons than yesterday morning. The overall transaction of finished products is somewhat weak, and it is expected that the price of billets will remain stable or increase in the afternoon.

Construction steel: Mainstream construction steel price in Tangshan marked up RMB 20/MT, and the current market price for rebar HRB400 mainstream specification is at RMB 3,900/MT, coiled rebar at RMB 3,960/MT with weak transaction.

Medium plate: Market price of mid-plate in Tangshan temporarily remain stable, and now general carbon plate of 14-22mm is reported at RMB 3,930/MT, and low alloy plate at RMB 4,130/MT. The transactional performance is plain.