In the local Indian flat steel market, the decline of demand has continued to exert an influence this week. Local mills' hot rolled coil (HRC) offers to the domestic market are standing at INR 29,000-29,500/mt. It is also heard that, depending on the region, traders' offers for HRC may be INR 1,000/mt higher or lower than the abovementioned prices. Local market players' buying activities have slowed down significantly. SteelOrbis has heard from traders that this slowness in buying activities results from the overall slowdown in the global steel markets in the third quarter, especially due to the summer season.
On the import side, ex-China offers for new production HRC are at $580-590/mt FOB for August shipment, while ready stock 3-12 mm HRC offers are at $600/mt CFR India for prompt shipment. The hot rolled coils offered from China are boron-added, because the export tax rebate has remained unchanged for this product. It would be difficult to say that Indian buyers are showing great interest in offers for new production boron-added HRC. Buyers think that the prices in question are still on the high side.
Russian steel giant Severstal, which has issued its new prices for August, has started giving offers to India and, as SteelOrbis has heard, Severstal's offers for HRC to India are standing at the level of $620/mt CFR India. Expectations that both Ukrainian and Russian mills' offers may decline to lower levels than the Chinese offers have so far not been fulfilled. As mentioned in previous reports, ex-China offers may increase due to the cancellation of the export tax rebates and so buyers in India may focus on either Russian or Ukrainian offers; however, neither the Russian nor Ukrainian offers have yet declined below the Chinese offer levels.
On the export side, in Indian producer Essar's flat steel product offers to the UAE, hot dip galvanized coil prices are heard to stand at $815/mt CFR, while hot rolled plate prices are at $700/mt CFR. It is also heard that Essar is offering hot rolled coil of 2 mm thickness to the Vietnamese market at the price level of $680/mt CFR.
Generally, the Indian domestic market has continued to be characterized by stagnation this week. Inventory levels in the local market are rather high. SteelOrbis has learned from local traders that, even if demand recovers, it will be hard for demand to support prices, because supply is getting stronger gradually and the Indian ports are full with previous bookings. The general opinion among local market players is that producers' prices will decline further.