[SMM HRC Daily Review] HRC futures and spot prices weakened during the day.

HRC futures prices were strong at first but weakened later, with the most-traded contract closing at 3,367, down 0.71%. Spot prices weakened in the afternoon, and overall trading was lackluster during the day. SMM released steel mill maintenance data, which showed that the impact from maintenance on blast furnaces for this week (August 23 to August 29) was 1.1328 million mt of hot metal, up 6,100 mt WoW. For next week (August 30 to September 5), the impact from maintenance on blast furnaces will be 1.3539 million mt of hot metal, an increase of 221,100 mt WoW. Starting from this weekend, there will be a concentrated period of production restrictions due to the upcoming parade.

Regarding HRC, some steel mills have announced maintenance plans for late August to September, coinciding with the transition between peak and off-peak seasons. Demand is expected to marginally improve, and the supply-demand imbalance for HRC is limited, not enough to drag down prices. In the short term, attention should be paid to changes in cost support, and it is expected that HRC prices will fluctuate within the price range of raw materials recently.