Asian coil prices rose little

With the rapid growth of China's economy, the demand for coils in the domestic main board industry is stable. In November, the domestic PMI index rose 0.5 points to 55.2 points, and industrial output continued to show an upward trend. Among them, the automotive industry and machinery manufacturing industry performed the most. However, the good performance of domestic industries seems to be not positive for the pull of coil consumption. Most end-users believe that there is sufficient inventory of coils and only a small number of coils are purchased to meet urgent needs. In addition, dealers and traders also believe that there is sufficient or even excess inventory, and consumer confidence is flat. The inventory in the domestic coil market remained unchanged, and even November HRC stocks (at least in Shanghai) also declined. Therefore, the apparent volume consumption of coils is not as strong as expected. Under this background, domestic steel mills have no choice but to reduce their prices and continue to bear low profit levels, while raw material costs remain high. The recent domestic coil prices did not increase much. In early December, the price of HRC only rose by 50 yuan/t (1%) to 4,450 yuan/t. The prices of hot rolled coil and galvanized sheet also had the same increase. Against the backdrop of weak demand at the moment, domestic coil production remained weak. In the first half of November, domestic crude steel production did not increase, and there was no sign of growth in late November and early December. At present, the energy-saving and emission reduction of steel plants is still not up to the standard, so the control of production is still in progress. With production remaining stable, with the end of the year, demand levels will be the main factor affecting the spot price of coils.

In other parts of Asia, the supply and demand situation of coils has not improved, and steel mills are still competing for market share. As a result, the coil price competition is very fierce. In the face of weak domestic and export demand, local steel mills (including Japanese and Korean steel mills) have actively reduced coil prices in order to maintain profitability to promote sales. Some HRC trading prices are even lower than US$600/t, which is more price-competitive than Chinese-made coils. Considering that the situation in the Korean Peninsula has recently led to the devaluation of the Korean Won, Korean coil exports have become more competitive. Some products were also exported to Taiwan, China, despite weak local demand. In the ASEAN region, volume of stencils is very low, and small deals are the mainstay. Poor actual demand and consumer (except Malaysia) stocks are sufficient to curb the steel mills' price increase efforts, and there is a $20/t spread in market prices. In the context of weak market demand, the import prices of ASEAN coils remained roughly unchanged in November. In December, the HRC price in the ASEAN region rose by only US$5/t to US$620/t. The prices of cold rolled coils and galvanized sheets increased by the same amount, reaching US$725/t and US$765/t, respectively.

It is expected that the price of coils in Asia will continue to show an upward trend in the future. However, there are signs that the demand for coils will be even weaker before the Spring Festival. At the same time, the current steel mills have a meager profit, especially cold rolling mills (due to the high slab prices). Raw material prices continue to rise, and will increase in the first quarter of 2011. Because of difficulties in winter transportation, CIS slab export to Asia is limited, and Asian coil market is also more tight. These factors will support the rise of coil prices in Asia in the coming months. In the second quarter of 2011, the increase in demand will also drive up coil prices.