Eastern China's hot-rolled coil prices continued to soften on Friday July 12, with traders continuing to make concessions to boost trading activity, though producers raised their offers.
DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,850-3,860 yuan ($560-562) per tonne, down 10-20 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tianjin): 3,830-3,840 yuan per tonne, unchangedTransaction prices in Shanghai fell further during the day, with traders doing their best to secure orders for materials due to be delivered soon. A trading source in Hangzhou said that traders were mostly still profiting because they had booked those materials from mills at much lower prices previously.Buyers consisted largely of end users, with the narrow difference between spot and futures prices providing little incentive to speculators.While transaction prices in the eastern region fell, ex-works prices of producers in Tangshan -...