[SMM Sheets & Plates Daily Review] HRC Futures Rebound Sharply, Intraday Trading Improves Significantly

Published: Nov 05, 2026 17:14 (GMT+8)

Save

HRC futures surged today, with the most-traded HC2701 contract closing at 3,200 yuan/mt, up 1.49% intraday. Spot market transaction prices were raised by 10-30 yuan/mt from the previous session, and intraday trading recovered notably. According to SMM intraday balance data, HRC production this week was 3.1289 million mt, down 46,100 mt WoW. HRC social inventory across 86 warehouses nationwide (large sample) stood at 4.7362 million mt, down 93,400 mt WoW, or -1.93% WoW, and up 7.55% YoY on a calendar-year basis. By region, all regions were destocking except east China and northeast China, which saw slight inventory buildup. Traders accelerated their procurement pace, and mill inventory declined as well. Total inventory was 593.18, down 124,900 mt WoW, extending destocking, though the pace slowed somewhat. Demand side, with supportive manufacturing policies taking effect, downstream orders from the automobile and home appliance industries retained some resilience, but actual end-user procurement pace remained in the doldrums, with limited room for growth. Cost side, further downside for raw materials such as iron ore and coke narrowed, providing bottom support for HRC prices. In addition, steel mill rolling line maintenance is gradually being implemented, easing supply-side pressure. Meanwhile, after consecutive declines, futures have some rebound momentum. HRC prices are expected to consolidate in the short term, with limited upside.

Data Source Statement: Except for publicly available information, all other data are processed by SMM based on publicly available information, market communication, and relying on SMM's internal database model. They are for reference only and do not constitute decision-making recommendations.

For any inquiries or for more information, please contact: lemonzhao@smm.cn

For more information on how to access our research reports, please contact:service.en@smm.cn

Related News

46 mins ago

[SMM Steel] Vietnam HRC Import Prices Hold Steady Amid Persistent Bid-Offer Gap

[Vietnam] ASEAN HRC prices remained stable at 532 USD/tonne CFR Vietnam. Indonesian mills maintained offers for SAE1006 and SS400 HRC at 532–535 USD/tonne CFR Vietnam for January–February shipments. Vietnamese buyers indicated bids of only 529–530 USD/tonne CFR Vietnam for SAE1006, reflecting limited urgency to replenish inventories. Meanwhile, a major Vietnamese steelmaker maintained SAE-grade HRC offers at 559–560 USD/tonne CIF Vietnam. Discounts for large-volume orders remained under negotiation, with no confirmed details available.

46 mins ago

1 hour ago

Nippon Steel raises full-year forecast, U.S. Steel profit contribution seen topping 230 billion JPY

Nippon Steel raised its full-year guidance: net profit to 440 billion JPY (about 2.8 billion USD) from 290 billion, business profit to 720 billion JPY (about 4.6 billion USD) and revenue to 11.7 trillion JPY (about 74 billion USD). U.S. Steel is the main driver, with its contribution now seen at no less than 230 billion JPY (about 1.5 billion USD) versus 180 billion previously, on higher U.S. prices and synergies. Tight supply, tariffs and AI data centre construction lifted U.S. hot-rolled coil prices about 50% y-o-y in late October, above budget assumptions. H1 net profit reached 262.9 billion JPY (about 1.7 billion USD), reversing a 113.3 billion JPY loss a year earlier, on revenue of 5.84 trillion JPY. Japanese operations remain weak, with profit previously guided down 60%, while September U.S. steel imports rose about 50% y-o-y to 2.36 million tonnes on AISI data.

1 hour ago

Alternative markets fail to fully offset 15.8% drop in Turkey's Jan-Sep HRC exports

Turkey's HRC exports reached 202,369 tonnes in September, down 21.6% m-o-m and 32.9% y-o-y; revenue was 122.24 million USD, an average of about 604 USD/tonne. January-September exports fell 15.8% y-o-y to 1.93 million tonnes, value down 13.7% to 1.15 billion USD. Traditional EU outlets shrank: Italy 450,376 tonnes (-36.2% y-o-y), just 38,164 tonnes in September (-72.4%); Spain 240,052 tonnes (-37.6%), September 3,012 tonnes (-93.6%); Portugal 72,495 tonnes (-63.5%); Belgium 89,842 tonnes (-12.5%), 1,073 tonnes in September (-96.2%). Alternative markets partly compensated: Bulgaria 124,584 tonnes (+397.5%), Morocco 72,936 tonnes (+133.3%), the US 77,032 tonnes (+20.8%), Libya 93,113 tonnes (+35.4%), Egypt 92,083 tonnes (-22.2%). New flows still failed to offset the EU gap, and momentum weakened again late in Q3. Data: TUIK preliminary.

1 hour ago