Data: SHFE, DCE market movement (Jul 15)

The most-traded HRC contract continued yesterday's rise during the day, closing at 3,327, up 1.12%. In the spot market, cold and hot rolled prices rose 10-20 yuan/mt, with moderate trading. During the off-season, sustained price rises could hardly stimulate a continuous increase in demand, and speculative and spot-futures demand also slowed down. From a fundamental perspective, there were few new maintenance activities for HRC, supply pressure persisted, and as the off-season gradually deepened, end-use demand was unlikely to be released significantly. Phased market movements only led to resource circulation, and inventory continued to slowly accumulate in July. Overall, the current sentiment improved somewhat, but considering that finished steel remains in the off-season, the rise driven by short-term news disturbances might be difficult to sustain, and the pace may still fluctuate. Pay attention to market news developments.

India has secured duty-free access for around USD 350 million of steel exports to the UK, above the historical average of about USD 200 million. The revised quota could lift Indian steel exports to the UK to roughly USD 1 billion in fiscal 2026-27, from around USD 900 million previously. Discussions over the UK’s planned 2027 carbon border mechanism remain unresolved."