India’s flat steel export activity has taken a hit during the past week from reports of buyers in key markets postponing purchases and other exporters from Asia being able to give more competitive prices, SteelOrbis has been informed on Monday, March 9.
Large Indian steel mills have cut export prices to $455-465/mt FOB, down by $10/mt compared to last week. Some producers have kept offers at higher levels, at $470/mt FOB, but most market sources have assessed this price level as unreasonable in the current situation.
In the main sales destination for Indian sellers - in Vietnam - offers from different steelmakers have ranged from $480/mt CFR ($455-460/mt FOB) to $495/mt CFR ($470-475/mt FOB), with the latter price from a mill not interested in sales abroad at the moment. But taking into account that customers from Vietnam can get $470/mt CFR from Japan and China, demand for ex-India coils has remained weak.
In the Middle East, offers from India have declined by $10-15/mt week on week to $485-490/mt CFR ($460-465/mt FOB), sources told SteelOrbis. But “all buyers are going slow,” a source from the UAE said.
Buyers from Italy, which generally accounts for 10 percent of Indian finished steel exports, have been completely absent from the market, following the rise in cases of coronavirus reported from the country and the Indian government imposing travel restrictions to and from Italy. The sources said that at least two western India-based integrated steel mills have reported cancellation of trade negotiations for exports of HRC with Italy-based buyers during the past week.
Despite facing an increase in inventories, Indian exporting steel mills have not been aggressive in concluding deals, risking contract cancellations, and also because of buyers’ uncertainty about exporters meeting delivery commitments.
