Global Cold Rolled Coil Prices Varies: US and China on Rise, Germany Fails to Show Resilience

By April 19th, 2024, Cold Rolled Coil prices in the US market saw a slight increase, driven by strong demand. In contrast, Germany experienced a drop in Cold Rolled Coil prices due to slow demand and reduced freight costs from China/East Asia to Northern Europe. Despite accessible deliveries, weak mill orders, and low demand led to a pessimistic outlook among buyers. Conversely, China's Cold Rolled Coil prices increased due to recovering demand and reduced producer stocks, projecting a positive trajectory supported by expected growth in various sectors like automotive.

By the week ending on April 19th, a slight increase of 0.2% was noticed in Cold Rolled Coil prices in the US market. It seems that recent price adjustments from mills are gaining acceptance among buyers. Market sentiment is mixed, with limited market competitiveness for Cold Rolled Coils. Notably, there was a significant jump in Automobile sales, rising by 15.5% month-on-month in March and 5% year-on-year. Consequently, this trend sustains for this month too contributed to weekly rise in Cold Rolled Coil prices for DEL-Illinois (USA) by April 19th.

Germany saw a 0.6% drop in Cold Rolled Coil prices by the week ending on April 19th due to sluggish demand. Freight costs from China/East Asia to Northern Europe also fell by 6.8% from the previous week. The decline in Germany's Cold Rolled Coil prices was a result of slow trading, with weak mill orders being a major factor. Buyers remained pessimistic due to low demand, while producers focused on filling second-quarter orders with an emphasis on volume over pricing, given the weak downstream industries. These factors collectively contributed to the weekly decrease in Cold Rolled Coil prices.

Meanwhile, Cold Rolled Coils experienced a slight price rise of around 0.16% in China. Parallelly, Petroleum coke prices surged by around 7% during that same period. Factors underlying the increase in Cold Rolled Coil prices include recovering demand from downstream users and a decrease in stocks held by steel producers and traders. Post-Chinese New Year, the Cold Rolled Coil market in China has displayed resilience, fuelling expectations of a positive trajectory. Projected growth in demand from Cold Rolled Coil manufacturers and other sectors like automotive assembly is expected to uphold the upward price trend.

According to ChemAnalyst, In the United States, a rising need from the automotive industry downstream could lead to an uptick in price trends, fuelled by optimistic market sentiments and limited product availability. Meanwhile, Germany's recovering but still restrained downstream sectors are poised to boost the demand for Cold Rolled Coil, particularly within the automotive industry. China anticipates strong sales signals that will enhance the supply-demand balance, fuelled by accelerated government-supported construction projects restoration efforts, all contributing to increased demand for Cold Rolled Coil in the market.