SHANGHAI, Apr. 17 (SMM) – Shougang announced Tuesday to cut its hot-rolled coil prices for May RMB 150/mt and offer RMB 300/mt rebate for the purchases made in March. The company will also release settlement price later depending on steel market.

Traders showed strong response to the price cut by Shougang, stating that the RMB 300/mt rebate is not enough as most traders suffered losses of RMB 700-800/mt for hot-rolled coil trading in March. Steel mills, however, believed any sharp price cuts will hurt market confidence with the onset of high-demand season, and opted to watch on the sidelines in the near term.

Hot-rolled coil prices of Angang Steel were still under discussion, but it was rumored that the company would cut price RMB 100/mt. Angang Steel also paid great attention to rebate for March’s transactions, and promised to offer rebate, but the amount remained undecided.