Ex-India hot rolled coil (HRC) prices have been kept unchanged over the past week as local sales have continued to remain center stage for mills owing to better price realizations. Mills have kept refraining from submitting offers to the Gulf region and Vietnam, while trade activity has also barely been kept alive in Europe due to slow demand in the region.
Specifically, ex-India HRC prices have remained at $590-620/mt FOB, the same as last week. According to sources, overseas trade is still close to zero, with only some occasional deals heard in northern Europe at $685/mt CFR Antwerp, down by $5/mt week on week, while most ex-India HRC offers in southern Europe have been heard at $645-655/mt CFR.
While inquiries from the UAE are heard to have improved on the back of demand from key infrastructure and construction projects launched in the region, these were not converted into deals due to “extremely price-sensitive buyers” and tight competition with Chinese suppliers.
“Domestic demand is rising daily and is expected to sustain through the festive season starting next month. We do not think mills will make any significant export allocations for the October-December quarter. Any volume required for small deals or market maintenance purposes can always be diverted from local spot sales,” a source at Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) told SteelOrbis.
“Our assessment is that $640-680/mt FOB is a floor at which exports can become remunerative for local producers compared to domestic sales. Considering developments in China, we don’t see such workable prices in key destinations in the medium term,” another market insider said.