Bullish market conditions have continued to be observed for the second consecutive week in the local Indian hot rolled coil (HRC) market, with prices increasing by INR 500/mt ($7/mt) in the past week to INR 35,000/mt ($522/mt) ex-works on the back of sustained restocking by traders and significant fresh bookings from end-users, traders said on Monday, August 29.
“There has been hectic restocking by traders as there is a lot of anticipation of local steel mills taking advantage of the revival in the market to increase base prices for September deliveries,” a Mumbai-based trader said.
“End-users are making substantial fresh bookings, resulting in traders seeing significant drawdowns in their inventories and having to restock,” the trader added.
At least two traders pointed out that, after two consecutive weeks of increase, the local Indian HRC market may come under downward pressure. But they also stated that any thoughts of correction may be put on hold if domestic steel mills announce another price hike early next week.
The sources said that market expectations are that domestic steel mills will likely go in for an across-the-board price hike for flat products in the range of INR 500-1,000/mt ($7-14/mt).
$1 = INR 67.17