Ex-India hot dip galvanized (HDG) coil prices have been kept stable, but no deals have been concluded due to wide bid-offer gap and negligible volumes available from sellers, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Thursday, November 9.
Sources said that large mills have kept ex-India prices unchanged in the range of $810-820/mt FOB, but stray bids have been reported below the $800/mt mark.
They said that local mills had earlier adjusted prices, keeping an eye on January deliveries to commence in the EU region, and they were not willing to conclude deals immediately as they did not have any export allocations to conclude deliveries up to then.
“The price being quoted now by sellers are a bottom for sellers but not for buyers, particularly from the UAE and Europe. In the EU mills are attempting to push up prices but with little success. Indian mills are keeping a close eye on the New Year expecting a rebound then and ex-India prices becoming competitive,” sources in a private mill told SteelOrbis.
“Local mills are mostly averaging plant utilization levels above 90-95 percent to push higher flat products for local sales. Therefore, they will be able to build volumes for export only for the last quarter of January-March. Until then we expect ex-India prices to be maintained notionally,” another source said.