Ex-India hot rolled coil (HRC) prices have been kept largely unchanged over the past week, while Indian exporters have been able to drive only occasional sales. At the same time, HRC supply has remained limited amid several plant maintenance shutdowns until the end of August, while local sales prices have been hardening.
Specifically, ex-India HRC prices have remained at $585-620/mt FOB, the same as last week, though, according to sources, there have been very limited offers for ex-India HRC as “only Tata Steel has been heard in the export market”. At the same time, most market insiders agree that Indian mills, especially those in the west of the country, are targeting higher prices at $630-635/mt FOB given the stronger support from the local market.
According to sources, some occasional sales have been reported for ex-India HRC at $630/mt FOB Nepal. At the same time, most offers in the Middle East and Turkey are still estimated by buyers at around $620-630/mt CFR. Meanwhile, buying activity in the EU has continued to remain muted during the current holiday season.
“Mills are generally not submitting offers. Firstly, there is optimism over prices and demand improving once business activity resumes in Europe, this despite ex-China prices suffering some setbacks in recent weeks. Secondly, local mills have reduced export allocations for July-September, because of improved realizations from local sales,” a source at Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) told SteelOrbis.
“Unless key export markets are supportive of increasing prices, exports will remain limited in the current quarter. Even as third quarter tariff quotas in Europe kick in, this will have limited impact on Indian sellers as competition will be quicker to take the quotas,” another source said.
