Jiangsu Province-based Shagang Group, China’s largest private steelmaker, has issued its list prices for hot rolled coil for December this year.
Accordingly, the company has kept its offer prices for Q235 5.5 mm x 1, 500 mm HRC stable at RMB 4,200/mt ($591.5/mt) ex-works. In November, the producer had also kept HRC prices stable.
The decision of the producer to keep prices stable is due to its desire to maintain high levels of local sales at the end of the year. The most popular HRC futures contract at Shanghai Futures Exchange increased by 4.4 percent in November, reacting RMB 4,036/mt on December 1.
However, the recent intervention of the government in relation to iron ore pricing has also eased the upward movement of the HRC market , with HRC spot prices in China increasing by just 1.7 percent on average to RMB 4,060-4,140/mt ex-warehouse from November 1 to December 1, according to SteelOrbis’ data.