Ex-India hot rolled coil (HRC) trading activity has come to a near standstill during the past week as buyers in key Asian markets and the EU have been unwilling to accept unchanged high-priced export offers. In some stray deals, Indian exporters had to provide big discounts, which resulted in a week-on-week price fall, SteelOrbis has learned.
The ex-India reference price fell to $740/mt FOB, from $740-780/mt last week, based on the latest deal price level, although most offers from integrated steel mills have remained higher, close to $770-780/mt FOB. Sellers have been unwilling to adjust export offers for the second consecutive week as pressure in the local HRC market has also increased.
Deals did not materialize largely because of buyers in the market like Vietnam seeking huge discounts and waiting for Chinese exporters to come back from the holiday to resume bookings. At the same time, Indian HRC producers have been facing stiff challenges in the EU, with buyers waiting for a correction to set in.
Sources said that only one stray deal for a very small volume was reported by a western Indian integrated steel mill at around $740/mt FOB, which was more to maintain a market presence in the EU. The previous bookings for ex-India HRC were at $780/mt FOB and slightly below, indicating that Indian mills have had to adjust to the market conditions in Europe. In this market, the number of offers from different exporters increased, while bids were going down, hitting sentiment.
