In the past week, Indian exporters’ hot dip galvanized (HDG) coil offers have declined for the second consecutive week, softening by about $20/mt to the range of $640-660/mt for US buyers, but the decrease has failed to boost transactions, traders said on Thursday, June 16.
“Chinese HDG exporters were seen to be more aggressive in reducing offers to boost buying and Chinese offers were at least 15-20 percent more competitive than Indian offers, though US buyers have continued to stay away,” a Mumbai-based trader said.
“Indian exporters failed to conclude any significant transactions as most US buyers told us that US flat product prices have taken a pause during the week and distributors are also waiting for short-term trends and so the adjustments in Indian offers have failed to trigger shipments,” the trader added.
However, market sources said that offers to the Gulf Co-operation Council have been adjusted further by around $30/mt on FOB basis as demand has fallen significantly over the past month owing to Ramadan and no significant transactions have been reported in the market during the week.
The sources said that, while Indian exporters have adjusted offers twice in two consecutive weeks, transactions volumes are expected to remain depressed in the absence of any reaction from US distributors.