Ansteel cut the HRC price export to Japan

Sep.18 MetalBiz--Ansteel previously decided that it would decrease the HRC price export to Japan for Nov. delivery by U.S. $30 per ton to U.S.$565 per ton (CFR).

Source from a trader in Japan noted that in the past four months, the price of HRC from Ansteel to Japan increased U.S.$130 per ton, but the decrease of China' s domestic market price made it have to reduce.

However, the trader said that the reduction of Ansteel did not arouse a substantial affect to Japan's market price. Tokyo Steel has decided to maintain Sep. price for October and the contract price of 1.7-12mm HRC for October is still 62,000 per ton (U.S. $681 per ton). The delivered price from Ansteel to Japan's consumers is equivalent to U.S. $575-U.S.$580 per ton.

The HRC export offer from POSCO and China Steel for August-October delivery is 59,000-60,000 per ton (U.S. $648-U.S. $660 per ton) and no sign for a price cut next quarter is seen.

Although Ansteel's price is far lower than other HRC suppliers, it is less likely for it to win large quantity of orders. Japan's HRC demand recovered slightly recently, but still lower than the level of last year.

In July, Japan's HRC import reached 98,014 tons, down 33% year on year. The data from Japan Iron&Steel Federation showed that the import from Japan was at 8,022 tons, down 64% year on year.