Chinese hot-dip galvanized coil prices held firm on Wednesday, but transactions were not propped up by the leading mills’ hiking February HDG ex-works prices, Platts learnt from dealers in Shanghai.
On Wednesday, 1.0mm thick DX51D HDG coils with 80 grams/square meter zinc coating were traded at Yuan 4,460-4,500/metric ton ($732-739/mt) ex-stock with 17% VAT in Shanghai, unchanged from both Tuesday when prices rose by Yuan 10/mt, and also level with Platts’ prior assessment on January 6.
Eastern China’s Baosteel, northeast-China based Angang, and central China’s Wugang raised HDG ex-works prices by Yuan 50/mt, Yuan 100/mt and Yuan 55/mt respectively in February. Although this did not drive up spot prices over the past few days, it did improve market sentiment in light of the current demand lull, an analyst in Shanghai said.
"We uplifted HDG prices tentatively on Tuesday but kept them firm on Wednesday, despite Angang's and Wugang’s prices increases, because transactions slowed down today after the increase," a major dealer in Shanghai said.
Some traders were still suffering from tight liquidity and were busy reclaiming debts from customers, leaving no time to deal with new orders, a dealer in Shanghai said. He believed there was no chance of a price rise before most traders start holidays at the end of next week, with some leaving even earlier.
According to statistics from a Shanghai-based analyst, HDG inventories in major Shanghai warehouses totaled 128,500 mt by December 27, up 1,400 mt week-on-week.
© Steel Business Briefing 2012
