Asian steel prices generally rise, China's hot rolled steel coil price advantage remains

Recent announcements issued by relevant departments in many places in China indicate that the export tax rebate management system will be shut down and debugged, and related work will be completed before May 1. At present, most of the steel export quotations of major Chinese steel mills take into account the fact that all the value-added tax rates have not been refunded, and the export price of hot coils has risen sharply. The SS400 ordinary coil offer price of some steel mills is around US$900/ton FOB.

Nevertheless, on a global scale, China's hot-rolling steel resources are still in the low-price zone, and rumors of domestic export tax rebate adjustments have provided confidence for overseas steel mills to increase prices significantly. Since Vietnam’s leading steel mill Formosa Ha Tinh raised the June delivery price of hot coil (cold rolled material) in Southeast Asia to US$919/ton CFR last week, other steel mills in Asia have also increased their export quotations. This week, a large Japanese steel mill raised its quotation for hot coils exported to Southeast Asia to US$1,000/ton CFR, and South Korea also increased its quotation of cold-rolled materials to US$950/ton FOB. In addition, India, a major steel exporting country, is in the second wave of the epidemic, with more than 270,000 newly diagnosed cases in a single day. Major cities in India have adopted measures to "close cities", and steel production and transportation have been severely affected. According to research, most Southeast Asian customers are holding a wait-and-see attitude toward their resources before the epidemic in India can be effectively controlled.