China's HRC prices have increased with rising demand

As of March 13, the spot price of Q235 4.75mm HRC was 99 Yuan/ton ($14.4/ton) higher compared to March 6, and was 4,483 Yuan/ton, including 13% VAT.

Many traders increased their offer prices after noting the increase in HRC futures prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE), a Shanghai-based analyst said.

According to official data, the most traded HRC contract on SHFE for May delivery closed the daytime trading session at 4,459 Yuan/t, up 132 Yuan/ton from its price on March 6.

From March 2-8, the HRC production of 37 Chinese steelmakers reached 3 million tons, down 2.1 percent week on week. In the same period, hot rolling capacity utilization among mills also decreased by 1.64 points on a week-on-week basis, to an average of 77.14%.

During the week, some factories in North China and Northeast China carried out maintenance work, which led to a decrease in production.

With the strengthening of hot coil prices, during the period when China's steel consumption is generally strong in early spring, many end users have actively purchased hot rolls. In addition, many traders postponed the sale of hot rolls in anticipation that prices would increase further.

A steady decrease in hot roll inventories also supported prices. Hot roll stocks in trading houses in 33 Chinese cities decreased by 155,400 tons, or 5.4%, to 2.7 million tons for the week ended March 9.