Having completed an upward revision in domestic prices and given higher export allocations for the last quarter of the current fiscal year, Indian mills have started submitting significantly higher offers and, although a few successful deals were reported, the mood regarding export sales has been buoyant, SteelOrbis has learned from trade and industry circles.
Several leading integrated mills have managed to confirm new tradable prices for ex-India SAE1006 2mm HRC at $620-630/mt FOB, which is up from the deal levels in the range of 595-610/mt FOB two weeks ago. Moreover, early this week it has been hard to find any offers below $640-680/mt FOB, with the higher end of the range corresponding to offers to the EU.
According to the sources, only a few small-volume trades were successful in being pushed through at lower than the prices initially targeted by mills. “Considering that the price rebound has been consolidating across geographies coupled with the rise in raw material prices, buyers in key destinations will soon return to confirm bookings at improved realizations for sellers,” a market source said.
According to market reports, a western India-based flat product producer reported a not large-volume trade at $620-625/mt FOB for shipment to the Gulf, which corresponds to closer to $660/mt CFR. But the overall number of offers from India to the UAE has been limited due to the limited allocation and expectations of further price improvements.
In addition, another small tonnage of 8,000 mt is heard to have been sold to Vietnam at $620/mt FOB. Though this deal could not be confirmed by the time of publication, market sources said that it would be “a good deal for a buyer” as it was the price the mill could agree last week, but the mill was unwilling to accept new bids lower than $640/mt FOB.
Though not confirmed by any officials, trade circles have reported a lot of speculation about an eastern Indian mill commencing price negotiations for a spot sale of 30,000 mt with a EU-based trading firm at a price as high at $670-680/mt FOB. No deal has been reported at the new level, but a number of European buyers see these offers though last week it was possible to get the same CFR US dollar price now offered on FOB basis.
However, even those discounting the possibility of such high deals concede that even speculations on high prices above the $670/mt FOB mark indicate the bullishness over the overseas sales outlook that is likely to become clearer over the next few weeks.