Posted on 08 Jul 2026
China’s export prices for hot-rolled coil (HRC) softened during the June 29-July 3 week, as Chinese mills tentatively lowered their export offers to stimulate overseas buying activity amid the summer doldrums. However, interest in China-origin coils remained muted, with demand in major overseas markets such as Vietnam staying subdued.
On July 3, Mysteel assessed the export price of SS400 3mm commercial-grade HRC at North China's Tianjin port at $490/tonne FOB, lower by $5/t on week and marking the third week that Chinese HRC export prices have declined.
Hot coil offers from China's privately-owned steelmakers dipped by $3-5/t on week to $485-487/t FOB around mid-week, while mainstream state-owned mills also cut their offers by $5/t on week to around $505/t FOB, according to Mysteel's market roundup.
Rising production costs including for raw materials such as coking coal and coke continued to squeeze the integrated mills' profit margins, with the result that some makers scheduled maintenance work to reduce their losses and ease inventory pressure, according to industry sources.
However, most market participants believe the planned production cuts will be insufficient to meaningfully ease the current supply-demand imbalance, with hot coil availability in the export market expected to remain loose in the near term.
In Vietnam on July 1, Hoa Phat Steel had announced it was cutting its HRC prices for domestic sales for August deliveries by VND 900/kg ($34/t). The size of the price cut exceeded most market expectations where market watchers had generally anticipated a reduction of $15-25/t.
Several days later on July 4, Formosa Ha Tinh Steel (FHS) also slashed its hot coil prices for August-September shipments by a larger VND 1,050/kg ($40/t), market sources indicated.
The aggressive cuts announced by Hoa Phat and FHS clearly reflected mounting competitive pressure that these local mills are feeling from imported coils, particularly following the sharp price declines tabled for Indian and Indonesian HRC during June.
For Indian supplies this week, offers for SAE1006 HRC were around $535/t CFR Vietnam on July 3, lower by another $5/t on week.
On the other hand, offers for Indonesian SAE1006 3mm HRC to Vietnam recorded a small rebound, edging up from around $538/t CFR on June 26 to $543/t on July 3. However, this was still at a relatively low level when compared with the $576/t level offered at the beginning of June.
Meanwhile, Japanese mills and traders held their HRC offers steady at $585/t CFR Vietnam last week. Offers for Chinese Q235B/355B and Malaysian SAE1006 3mm HRC were still unchanged on week at $580-598/t and $615/t CFR Vietnam respectively.
In the Middle East, as efforts toward the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz continued, market sentiment improved last week, leading to a modest recovery in purchasing activity. Mainstream Chinese HRC offers to Jeddah Port were reported at $608-610/tonne CFR, easing moderately from the previous $610-620/t CFR range.
Meanwhile, on July 3, China's export price for SPCC 1.0mm cold-rolled coil at Tianjin port was assessed lower by $3/t on week at $547/t FOB.
Source:Mysteel Global
