South Korean steel mills led by Hyundai Steel resumed submitting hot rolled coil (HRC) export offer to the Indian market and although there was very limited trades reported in the market, standalone re-rolling mills with supply contracts with Indian subsidiaries of South Korean auto companies concluded limited volume deals, market sources said.
According to sources, standalone re-rolling mills concluded small volume contracts estimated by the market to be an aggregate of around 15,000-25,000 mt with South Korean mills for imported HRC as the local rolling mills have long term supply contracts with India based Korean auto majors.
The sources said that with Indian steel mills effecting at least three upward revision of domestic HRC base price over June-July at current level of INR 39,800-40,000/mt ($531-534/mt) ex-works, South Korean steel mills have started making presence in the local market anticipating that price competitiveness and improving demand from local end users would mark beginning of imports which had come to a complete halt since national lockdown in March.
The sources said that South Korean steel mills led by Hyundai steel were submitting offers at $490/mt CFR Mumbai, which was competitive amid higher local HRC prices.
The sources said that local steel mills re expected to continue increasing base prices right through August and this opened up import window.
Local steel distributors were yet to conclude any import deals for ex-Japan or ex-South Korea HRC over the past week and that deals were restricted to re-rollers. However, it was pointed out that any base price hike of local HRC above the INR 1,000/mt ($13/mt) from current levels could be the trigger for resumption of import deals as price differential inclusive of current anti-dumping rates would become competitive for end user and also offer margins for trades by distributors.$1= INR 74.90