Ex-India hot rolled coil (HRC) prices have been maintained unchanged amid some slight optimism based on the rise in the number of inquiries received by local mills, but this did not translate into reality and was not backed by actual trades amid differing perception on prices among both buyers and sellers. Besides, overseas sales have been extremely slow in the face of competitive challenges led by supplies from China.
Sources said that large mills have kept ex-India HRC prices unchanged at $520-540/mt FOB, after a slight reduction in the earlier week. They said more local mills have reported a rise in inquiries received, particularly from the Middle East, but these bids are below the $500/mt FOB mark, ranging at $480-490/mt FOB, leading to a collapse of the preliminary buyer-seller negotiations. Offers for ex-India HRC in the Middle East have been reported at $550-560/mt CFR, against $550-565/mt CFR last week, though no deals have been reported due to tighter competition with Chinese suppliers.
“Sellers are unwilling to adjust prices further perceiving the market to have bottomed out. But buyers are still not certain of the direction. The ex-China price trend is uncertain. There is a lot of talk of price recovery, but it is still below the $500/mt FOB mark which is unviable for Indian mills,” a source at Jindal Steel and Power Limited told SteelOrbis.
Meanwhile, offers for ex-India HRC in Europe have been estimated at $590/mt CFR, mainly the same as last week, which translates to around $535-540/mt FOB.
“Indian mills are carrying a lot of inventory in the current month. But they are unlikely to sell overseas owing to the wide bid-offer disparity. It is better to wait and watch for a more definitive trend to emerge depending on how and where the ex-China price settles,” another source said.