In a near unprecedented move, Indian integrated mills maintained aggression in hiking hot dipped galvanized (HDG) coil export prices for the second consecutive week, a reflection more of domestic tight supplies of intermediates for conversion rather than demand overseas. Meanwhile, Indian cold rolled coil (CRC) sellers have maintained their prices stable as traders remained almost silent.
Ex-India CRC prices have remained at $710-720/mt FOB, stable from the first week of August, which mainly translates to stable offers to Europe at $760-770/mt CFR. The market has been silent due to the summer season and the exhausted quota.
Meanwhile, ex-India HDG prices have been hiked by around $40-50/mt over the past week to $810-830/mt FOB. Such price rise was mainly attributed to tight supplies of hot rolled coil (HRC) and CRC coupled with aggressive dynamics of domestic market. At the same time, according to sources, talk about a trade for 2,000 mt of ex-India HDG signed at $820/mt FOB for delivery to Italy was circulating in the market this week, while another deal by an eastern India based seller for 4,000 mt was reported at $815/mt FOB for Antwerp delivery. Both deals have not been officially confirmed by the time of publication, and although many sources believe this information is true, other, especially traders in Europe, doubt any of these deals “as local EU supply has been much cheaper than import, at around $845/mt ex-works in particular.”
“With flat products demand and price improving in local market, Indian HDG sellers were unlikely to give up aggressive pricing to push volumes overseas. Higher price and low volumes if workable is likely to be the medium term new normal on exports,” an official with a private mill told SteelOrbis.