Indian hot dip
galvanized (HDG) coil export offers have remained unchanged during the past week at around $830/mt CFR US and exporters have been successful in pushing larger volumes into the US market in the same period, on the back of reports of increasing flat product prices in the US, traders said on Thursday, May 28.
"A combination of the weak Indian currency and rising US flat steel product prices have enabled Indian exporters to conclude transactions for higher HDG volumes," a Mumbai-based trader said.
"Of course several exporters have persisted with discounts at around $20/mt, but, with the Indian rupee plunging to a low close to INR 64 to a dollar, exporters can well afford to be aggressive in their pricing," the trader said.
Market sources said US buying interest, which seemed to be running out of steam earlier in the month, has been revived by fresh reports of upward movement in local US flat product prices.
Going by indications received by Indian exporters from their talks with US buyers, it seems that the rising prices in the US market are facing resistance and hence the focus is shifting to HDG offers from
India and China.
On the other hand, market sources said that Indian HDG exporters have faced disappointments in the Gulf Co-operation Council markets. They said that, despite lowering offers by around $10/mt to around $590/mt CFR Gulf, no significant transactions have been reported in the market.
Demand for Indian HDG had been tepid in the Gulf markets for the past few months and, with the month of Ramadan approaching, very few distributors in the region are willing to make bookings and replenish inventories with a slack period for trading activity ahead, the sources added.