Posted on 18 Dec 2025
China’s hot-rolled coil (HRC) export market trended weaker last week, as falling raw material prices, seasonal demand lull, and emerging policy uncertainties weighed on export prices and trading activities, Mysteel's latest market roundup showed.
Mysteel's assessment of the export price of SS400 3mm HRC edged lower by $5/tonne on week to sit at $445/t, FOB from North China's Tianjin port, as of December 12.
Early last week, mainstream Chinese steel mills kept hot-rolled coil export offers largely stable in the $465–475/t FOB range. By mid-week, quotations softened to around $460/t FOB, while the actual tradable range hovered lower around $452–455/t FOB. By Friday, quotes rebounded modestly to around $465/t FOB, according to Mysteel's tracking.
China's Friday announcement of implementing the steel export licensing system starting from January 1 2026 has stoked broad market caution. China's HRC export prices are projected to remain rangebound in the short run.
In Southeast Asia, Indonesian hot-rolled coil offers for Vietnamese buyers slipped due to tepid local demand. Mainstream offers for Indonesian SAE1006 3mm HRC slid to around $488/t CFR Vietnam, a $7/t on-week decline.
In the Middle East, flat steel import markets in both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates remained under pressure. Asian suppliers continued to lower offers in response to soft local demand, leading to broadly weaker prices and widening spreads across products.
Specifically, Chinese HRC offers softened to $485–510/t CFR UAE, and Indian and Japanese coils were quoted at $505–515/t CFR and $495–500/t CFR, respectively, around $10/t lower than a week ago.
For Saudi Arabia, Chinese offers for 1.2mm HRC were heard at $515–550/t CFR, but no confirmed transactions were reported at these levels. Actual transactions were limited to thicker gauges, with 2mm Chinese HRC traded at $500/t CFR Dammam and $505/t CFR Jeddah in early December.
Meanwhile, China's export price of SPCC 1.0mm cold-rolled coil (CRC) at Tianjin port edged down by $2/t on week to $515/t FOB by December 12, according to Mysteel's assessment.
Source:Mysteel
