Following successful sales of hot rolled coil (HRC) to export destinations, in particular to the GCC region, India-based suppliers have started testing the market with higher-priced offers. The customers, in their turn, have opted to temporarily leave the market, while closely watching developments in the global steel industry.
Accordingly, by the beginning of last week around 20,000-30,000 mt of ex-India HRC in total were booked to the UAE at $765-770/mt CFR. “Generally, orders for 3,000 mt and below fetch prices higher by around $5-10/mt. This time, all the orders in question were for smaller volumes and, concurrently, for prompt shipment,” a representative of an Indian flats mill stated. Meanwhile, some volumes (up to 15,000 mt) of ex-India HRC were booked to Oman at $750-755/mt CFR, SteelOrbis has learned. Afterwards, India-based HRC suppliers have started testing UAE-based customers with offers at $780-790/mt CFR, though no results have been yielded so far. “People here have expected a further decline in prices, and so they are not ready to book at current levels,” a UAE-based customer stated.
Last week, ex-Japan HRC offers were heard at $770-780/mt CRR in the UAE.