Indian hot dip galvanized (HDG) coil exporters have started to offer discounts in the range of $10-20/mt during the past week, with their offers at around $830/mt CFR US, in order to push volumes more aggressively, traders said on Thursday, May 14.
According to a Mumbai-based trader, exporters are seeking to seize opportunities thrown up by the rising trend in prices of flat products in the US market, and buying interest in Indian HDG has seen a significant uptick in the US during the week.
The trader said that most reports received in India indicate that US flat product prices might have bottomed out and most distributors which have liquidated their stocks at low price levels are becoming more interested in restocking, explaining the rise in transaction volumes for Indian HDG.
Market sources said that the Indian rupee is expected to remain well below INR 63 to the US dollar in the short term, enabling local HDG exporters to aggressively price their offers and push volumes into the US market.
However, buying interest in the Gulf Co-operation Council market for Indian HDG has remained weak and buyers are not interested in offers at $600/mt CFR Gulf, sources said.
Having lowered offers to the Gulf markets by $10/mt earlier in the month, Indian exporters have kept their offer levels unchanged, though there is a lack of demand from end-users in the region and transaction volumes have remained negligible, the sources added.