Ex-India hot rolled coil (HRC) have increased slightly during the past week but optimism has been fading by limited deals being concluded, while business activity in the Gulf has been showing no considerable improvement.
Ex-India prices were kept unchanged at $575-610/mt FOB, with a midpoint standing at $592.5/mt FOB, up by $2.5/mt week on week. At the same time, although the higher end of range corresponds to ex-India HRC offers in Europe, most of the deals were concluded at lower levels so far, at around $600-605/mt FOB in particular. More specifically, following several deals for ex-India HRC in Europe at $660-665/mt CFR last week, most offers have been reported at $670-675/mt CFR Antwerp and $665/mt CFR southern Europe.
At the same time, customers in the Gulf region have been reporting a persistently low end-user demand, which resulted in slow activity again this week. Indicative offers for ex-India HRC in the UAE have been reported at $620/mt CFR, up by $10/mt week on week, though no fresh deals have been reported so far. According to sources, an eastern region based large mill concluded a deal for 5,000 mt for Bahrain delivery at $595/mt FOB, though this information has not been confirmed by the time of publication.
Meanwhile, lower end of the range at $575/mt FOB corresponds to the indicative offers for HRC in some Asian countries like Vietnam, though, this level is considered as “too high” for the customers given more attractive offers coming from China.
According to sources, although there is some recovery in several key markets like Gulf and Europe, the scope for increasing prices is still not there.
“The big positive from sellers’ point of view is that buyers are willing to accept higher price within the existing range. This is indication that demand is improving in price sensitive market. Next two months are important as recovery will gain momentum and sellers will have to make critical assessment on attempting to push up price without triggering a buyer’s resistance,” an official with a private mill told SteelOrbis.
