Ex-India hot dip galvanized (HDG) coil trade activity has remained silent despite sellers adjusting prices to align them with the fall in other flat product prices over the past week, with buyers in the Gulf absent for the holidays ahead and EU demand depressed by the poor performance of the automobile sector, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Thursday, July 7.
For the second consecutive week, local mills have cut ex-India HDG prices, by $10/mt to $970-990/mt FOB, following cuts in hot rolled coil (HRC) and cold rolled coil (CRC) prices.
But even after the reduction in price, offers could not be matched by the lower bids received from Asian markets and only very small-volume trades were reported for North African markets, the sources said. They said that sellers were disinclined to aggressively match offers with bids and push sales, anticipating that finished steel prices will stop falling in line with the uptrend seen in raw material prices, with a short time lag.
“Rising raw material prices across geographies and falling finished product prices are not sustainable. Market forces will ensure a better alignment of the two and hence we are expecting steel prices to get on a recovery phase soon,” a source at ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel Limited (AMNS) said.
“It is a new reality that the export tax in India and tariff quotas in the EU are strong headwinds to global trade. There is a lot of talk of recession in developed economies. But we assess that large government investments across countries will continue to support demand and will be reflected in prices,” he said.
Trade circles said that an eastern India-based integrated steel mill has concluded a relatively minor-volume trade for 3,000 mt with a buyer in Egypt at $970-980/mt FOB for September shipment.
