Local Indian hot rolled coil (HRC) prices have remained stable during the past week at around INR 40,500/mt ($674/mt) ex-works amid weak demand and low volumes, traders said on Tuesday, June 17.
"The market is gripped by many uncertainties relating to pricing and demand," a Mumbai-based trader said.
"Current local HRC prices have been depressing demand further. The Indian rupee too has been weakening, breaching the INR 60 to a dollar mark and making imports expensive," the trader said.
"Local steel mills are citing higher prices of iron ore, while in the market it is believed that there is little possibility of HRC prices being adjusted to boost demand, leading to overall low transaction volumes," he added.
Market sources said competition from imported HRC too is easing up for local steel producers with the weakening of the rupee and so the latter are under no pressure to lower their local prices.
The sources said that during the past week HRC import offers ranging at $530-535/mt CFR Mumbai for August shipments have been rejected by local traders who are instead seeking offers around $10-20/mt lower.
Most traders are carrying large inventories and are not willing to conclude fresh bookings for either local or imported HRC unless there are indicators of prices moving up, the sources said.