Ex-India hot-rolled coil (HRC) offers have remained largely stable, but trade activity has been almost silent amid stiff competition from other Asian sellers, at a time when the Middle East is reportedly fully stocked and European buyers are avoiding trade risks.
Sources said that ex-India HRC offers in the Middle East have been maintained at lower levels of $485-500/mt FOB, but weak demand and more competitive offers led by ex-China were attributed to lack of success by Indian sellers. A section in the market claimed that some chatter was heard on two offers as low as $450-460/mt FOB being submitted in UAE by an eastern India-based mill, but no confirmed information was available if any deals were finally successful at this level.
Meanwhile, ex-India offers in Europe too have been kept unchanged at low levels of $525/mt FOB. However, despite European mills were attempting to push up local prices, it was not sufficient to prompt distributors to look at imports, sources said. While strong competitive offers in the EU region forced Indian sellers to the sidelines, buyers overall were reluctant to commit import trades risking exhaustion of tariff quotas and looming uncertainties of trade barriers in form of carbon tax.
At the same time, indicative offers for ex-India HRC in Vietnam have been estimated at $500/mt CFR level, the same as last week.
“Indian sellers do not have much pricing power to face increasing competitive challenges in key markets, as several suppliers have adopted aggressive pricing amid weak demand in major destinations,” an affiliate of Tata Steel Limited told SteelOrbis.
“We do not expect exports to be a focus for Indian mills in the coming months, given the backdrop of sliding prices in China and rising trade risks in Western markets,” he added.
Thus, the SteelOrbis reference price for ex-India SAE1006 HRC has remained at $485-525/mt FOB, the same as last week.
