This week, while ex-India HRC offers in the Middle East have remained relatively stable, they have continued to be uncompetitive compared to more attractive prices from other Asian suppliers such as China and Japan. In contrast, offers from Indian suppliers in Europe have seen steady declines, even as overall trading activity has remained limited due to sluggish demand and persistent pressure from competitive bids and trade measures, particularly quota constraints.
Sources said that, while indicative ex-India offers in the Middle East have been kept unchanged at $520/mt FOB, offers submitted in Europe have dropped for the second consecutive week by $10/mt to around $570/mt FOB.
According to sources, buyers in the Middle East have continued to have multiple competitive sourcing options and ex-India offers have faced challenges of ex-China SS400 material heard to be quoted in the range of $480-490/mt CFR, marginally lower by around $5-10/mt on week-on-week basis. Besides, several deals for ex-Japan SAE1006 HRC are reported to have been signed at $505/mt CFR last week, making offers from Indian suppliers at around $540-550/mt CFR totally uncompetitive, according to sources.
At the same time, while confirmation of deals in Europe has not been readily available in trade circles, one western India-based integrated mill has reported a trade for 8,000 mt for delivery to Rotterdam at $625-630/mt CFR, sources said.
“Global markets are showing stability but lacking upside drivers. Easing of trade tensions between China and US has not had much impact on trade-level prices till now. Buyers in the Middle East we hear are fully stocked, while buyers in Europe are cautious and distributors are only looking to conclude deals at lower levels or to await another decline,” an affiliate of Tata Steel Limited told SteelOrbis.
“We have not heard deals or negotiations for July deliveries to any of the markets yet. Information about this will indicate an immediate price trend. We expect to hear more in the coming week and sellers will then start taking a call on new price. But we do not see sellers having much leverage on pricing to push overseas sales, not until there is a discernible consolidation in ex-China supplies,” he added.