HRC Prices Unlikely to Fall Sharply amid Strong Cost Support

SHNAGHAI, Feb 24 (SMM) - HRC futures fluctuated widely yesterday and closed with losses of -0.26%. The spot market was stable. The market transactions were average as the speculative demand was obviously better than the terminal demand.

The overall terminal procurement was relatively deserted due to wide fluctuation in futures prices. The recovery pace of HRC slowed down and thus the social inventory of HRC across 69 warehouses in China surveyed by SMM this week increased 0.78% or 30,100 mt to 4.8791 million mt. From the perspective of cost, since iron ore and coke prices rose slightly, the HRC prices are unlikely to drop significantly amid strong cost support.