Local Indian cold rolled coil (CRC) prices have remained under pressure for the second consecutive week, moving down by INR 500/mt ($7.50/mt) during the past week to around INR 38,000/mt ($574/mt) in reaction to fears of a sharp fall in Chinese offer prices and due to increased stocks held by market participants, traders said on Tuesday, August 25.
"Several dealers are carrying large stocks of local CRC and fear that a rise in import transactions will make it difficult to liquidate domestic CRC stocks as demand continues to be sluggish," a Mumbai-based trader said.
"Talks of the Indian government imposing safeguard duty on imported ex-China CRC have failed to offer any support since the market believes that the size of the levy will not be sufficient to offset the sharp slide in the Chinese currency," the trader added.
Market sources said that Chinese CRC offers have declined by $5-10/mt to the range of $365-370/mt CFR Mumbai for September shipments and transaction volumes have been substantial, while a number of importers are holding back from concluding transactions, expecting a further slide in offers due to the devaluation of the Chinese currency.
$1 = INR 66.25