Ex-India hot dip galvanized (HDG) coil prices have been pushed up over the past week on the back of rising domestic prices of flat steel products, but deals have remained restricted by the continuing limited utilization of galvanizing capacities by large mills and cautious buying sentiments in the Gulf region, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Thursday, February 12.
Sources said that ex-India HDG (grade Z120) prices have increased by $20/mt to the range of $695-730/mt FOB to be in line with the recent steady rise in domestic prices of flat products and rising conversion costs.
The sources said that, with the rising demand for and prices of flat products including sheets, mills have had very limited captive availability for conversion and hence have been reducing their annealing and galvanizing capacity utilization. This resulted in most large mills having very limited exportable HDG volumes. At the same time, with the price of sheets rising as well as the price of zinc, Indian mills have been adjusting HDG offer levels to suitably reflect these input cost increases, the sources said.
Among the stray deals, a booking for 8,000 mt of HDG has been reported by an integrated mill for delivery to the UAE at $710-720/mt FOB, the sources added.
“Hence, sellers are avoiding pushing overseas sales as the market in the Gulf remains very price-sensitive and EU buyers are mostly absent owing to tariff uncertainties,” an affiliate of Tata Steel Limited told SteelOrbis.
