Markets in Asia

摘要

Just as the opening of China's new import quota year at the end of May woke up the east Asian coil trade, so the passing of the SARS crisis has enlivened the market for construction industry products in July and promises to suck in imports when excess stocks are cleared. Travel restrictions and quarantine orders during the worst of the epidemic brought many construction projects to a standstill. Since restriction orders have been lifted contractors have been working at a frenzied rate to make up for earlier enforced idleness. Pre-painted galvanised coil saw the most spectacular price falls from the height of the first quarter boom to the collapse in demand from builders that left port warehouses overflowing with tonnage from cancelled orders. Japanese exporters reported that prices peaked at Yn8,300/tonne cif (US805 dollars/tonne) but quickly declined 28 percent to Yn6,500/tonne cif (US630 dollars/tonne). The decline in HDG prices, from Yn5,990/tonne (580 dollars/tonne) to Yn5,l60/tonne (500 dollars/tonne), 16 percent, was not as dramatic, but it was substantial.