Although HRC export trade from India has remained weak in the face of cheaper alternatives from China and other Asian countries available to buyers, according to sources, some Indian mills have resumed export offers after a long two-month pause in sales. As a result, at least two large Indian integrated mills have reported HRC export bookings at higher prices for around 20,000 mt for delivery to Antwerp by mid-December, SteelOrbis learned from industry circles on Tuesday, November 14.
More specifically, ex-India HRC prices are reported at $590-640/mt FOB, against $590-620/mt last week, with the higher end of the range corresponding to offers in Europe and consequently deal prices. In particular, ex-India HRC bookings for 20,000 mt were concluded by the mills in several lots and details of each deal were not readily available. The average price worked out to around $685-690/mt CFR Antwerp, which translated to around €639-644/mt CFR. ($1 = €0.93). Meanwhile, customers in southern Europe, Spain in particular, have reported ex-India HRC offers at €640/mt CFR as well, though, according to some sources, some Indian suppliers are actually ready to lower their offers to $670/mt CFR or €625/mt CFR, but this level is also high for buyers so far.
“While these are early days to predict a revival of India exports, there are positive signals emerging from the EU region. Indian mills can be expected to resume regular exports to Europe once new tariff quotas kick in the New Year,” an official at a private mill told SteelOrbis, adding, “The trend is a positive. But for export trade activity to improve, we will have to wait for some more confidence from buyers.”
“As Indian mills don’t want to decrease domestic HRC prices, announcing just small corrections, to support this narrative they [mills] are looking to start some exports,” an Indian trader told SteelOrbis.
At the same time, no improvement has been heard in other trade destinations and, although there is some optimism in several markets like Vietnam and the Middle East as regards prices improving, they are still too low for Indian sellers. “We heard that in some Asian markets the acceptable prices for imports are working out at $560-570/mt on CFR basis. Indian mills are far better off catering to domestic demand and are under no pressure to make export allocations at these levels so far,” an official at Tata Steel Limited said.