Ex-India hot rolled coil (HRC) trade activity has remained in limbo, with mills not submitting offers, rendering official quotes in the range of $590-620/mt FOB largely irrelevant and the slight improvement in mood in select Asian destinations insufficient to induce sellers to enter the market.
Sources said that buyers in a major market like Vietnam have been almost completely absent from the local Indian market for almost a year now and, even with a slight improvement in ex-China prices, there are still a lot of cheaper alternatives available for buyers, from non-VAT Chinese traders in particular.
At the same time, buyers from the Middle East are not very active or are submitting very low bids as they are “extremely cautious” over the geo-political situation in the region and are unwilling to make commitments unless “very low level” deals are available. Meanwhile, there has been some chatter in trade circles over some small-tonnage deals in Europe, but confirmation of details on volume or price has not been available and hence they are considered largely speculative.
“No large mill has any export allocations until December and hence quotes are irrelevant. An export revival, if at all, can be expected only after new tariff quotas are made available in Europe. But then again it is uncertain if importers will look at India for sourcing as many supply options are available,” a source at Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) told SteelOrbis.
“We are focused on serving our domestic customers and offering them best value. It also enables us to maximize our margins too, rather than banking only on currency exchange rate benefits by selling low overseas,” another source said.
