Prices
When Will Cold Rolled Dumping Suits Be Filed Against Chinese Mills?
Written by John Packard
May 29, 2014
While trading emails with one of my Asia trading sources regarding export price offers coming out of China I got the following response, “By the time September rolls around, CRC and other coated products may already be under anti-dumping and nothing sellable to the U.S….” It appears some in China are expecting the inevitable. As our previous reporting points out, exports out of China are beginning to surge as their economy slows down and ours remains robust.
I thought everyone would consider the following comments interesting from a company that clearly identifies themselves as a buyer of foreign steel. We started talking about cold rolled and specifically the amount of offers (and tonnage being purchased) of Chinese cold rolled. “They [domestic steel mills] have to say something. I am a buyer of foreign material but this is just wrong.” He went on to report buying 14-20 gauge cold rolled coils produced in China at $32.00 and $32.90/cwt Gulf and East Coast ports. “I can land it in Chicago for $35.50/cwt.”
Chinese cold rolled exports (receipts in USA ports) totalled 105,236 tons during the month of April. To put this into context, during calendar year 2013 the Chinese averaged 22,027 net tons per month. Now they are five times that level and the same buyer above told us there is a “bunch” of Chinese coming in June as he has a lot on order and he is not the only buyer of the product.
John Packard
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