Indian hot dip galvanized (HDG) coil exporters have aggressively pushed up prices in reaction to the tight availability of hot rolled coil (HRC) for captive conversion and bookings from the EU region even though overall trade has been limited by the cautiousness seen from traditional markets in the Gulf, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Thursday, March 10.
Ex-India tradable HDG prices have been pushed up by $50-70/mt to the range of $1,140-1,170/mt FOB, with only one trade reported to the Gulf, but the price has been supported by buyers from the EU seeking alternative sourcing for April-May deliveries (at up to $1,200/mt FOB for this destination).
“Prices of imports in the UAE and Saudi Arabia have increased, but buyers are not making large bookings. They contend that large projects are either being deferred or importers are deferring trades expecting some price correction,” a source at ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel Limited said.
“But the price has been rising reacting more to supply concerns than demand, as evident from the increase in bids from the EU region where buyers are seeking replacement sourcing. Tight overall flat product supplies in global markets will continue to dictate price increases,” he said.
However, an official at another private mill observed that sellers (mills) in India were only offering very limited volumes of HRC inventories for local sales along with offers overseas, and hence conversions at captive rolling mills and outputs were restricted. Hence, the low export volumes available restricted sellers from further increasing ex-India HDG prices, which the official said had the near-term target of touching $1,190-1,200/mt FOB due to Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Sources in trade circles said that a western India-based mill concluded a trade for 8,000 mt with a Saudi Arabia-based buyer at a price of around $1,150-1,160/mt FOB.
The same mill is also heard to have concluded a trade of 12,000 mt for Europe at around $1,160-1,170/mt FOB for end-of-April delivery, the sources said, though after that the tradable levels have increased further and even one HRC trade has been heard at $1,100/mt FOB from India to Europe.
