Indian exporters of hot dip galvanized (HDG) coils have kept their offers unchanged at $780-785/mt CFR US even as the market witnessed a rise in transaction activity during the past week amid increasing flat product prices in the US, traders said on Thursday, March 31.
"There is definitely a revival in buying interest as reflected by the rise in the number of transactions reported in the market," a Mumbai-based trader said.
"However, buyers are still in a cautious mood and transaction volumes are limited as US steel distributors are still awaiting the final decisions on a number of trade cases against flat product imports," the trader said.
At least two traders said that the interest in Indian HDG has been triggered to a large extent by buyers nervous over the high volatility in offers for ex-China HDG, while Indian steel mills are able to offer more stable offers.
However, some market sources have warned that Indian exporters now have little headroom to adjust offers from current levels if buying sentiment is impacted. The sources went on to say that the Indian rupee is nearing a three-month high against the dollar at around INR 66.39 to the dollar and, given the appreciating trend, any level higher than INR 66 to the dollar will severely preclude any possibility of exporters lowering their offers to push volumes.