Indian hot dip galvanized (HDG) coil exporters have cut their offers marginally by around $10/mt during the past week to about $715/mt FOB, failing to trigger interest among US buyers but boosting activity in the Gulf region, traders said on Thursday, July 20.
“Indian exporters and producer-exporters have no option but to resort to aggressive pricing. It seems that US buyers will remain absent considering the prolonged process of arriving at a firm conclusion in US import investigations under Section 232,” a Mumbai-based trader said.
“US steel distributors are expected to continue to stay on the sidelines and the lowering of Indian offers is not expected to make much difference in that regard,” the trader added.
At least two traders said that Indian exporters are taking a contrarian pricing strategy of lowering offers at a time when export offers for ex-China HDG are seen to be rising.
However, it is still too early to say whether the increased competitiveness of ex-India HDG vis-à-vis ex-China HDG will result in increased shipments of Indian HDG, the traders said.
Meanwhile, market sources said that sluggish prospects in the US market are partially offset by rising prices and demand in the Gulf markets. The sources said that strong demand in the Gulf has triggered a revival of shipments to the region, with ex-India transactions reported at around $730-740/mt CFR.