Indian mills are reported to have been pulling back hot rolled coil (HRC) export offers to raise them under revised offers, riding on the back of a demand revival from key markets like the Gulf, Asia and moderately from the EU region, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on December 20.
Ex-India HRC prices have reached $575-605/mt FOB with the midpoint at $590/mt FOB, up by $25/mt over the past week. A number of deals have been concluded in the abovementioned range to different markets, which means that Indian mills have mainly achieved last week’s targeted levels.
There were a lot of reports that mills had pulled back several offers submitted earlier and held back immediate deals and re-submitted offers, increasing them to levels of $600-620/mt FOB.
At least one western integrated mill floated an offer for 30,000 mt, but the bids reportedly received at $575-585/mt FOB were rejected by the seller and unconfirmed reports suggested that it would re-float the offer to seek realizations above $600/mt FOB.
According to trade circles, an eastern India-based mill concluded a deal for 25,000 mt for February shipment to the UAE at $580/mt FOB, which translates to $610-620/mt CFR. Though this deal could not be confirmed by the time of publication, most market sources believe that the level is reasonable and that some new offers have been reported from India at $640/mt CFR or $600/mt FOB at the lowest.
The same mill also reported a trade with a Singapore-based trading firm, speculated to be for forward trading to Vietnam, for 30,000 mt at around $575/mt FOB, which corresponds to around $595-600/mt CFR, trade circles said. The previous deal from India to Vietnam was reported at $555-560/mt on FOB basis a week ago.
A Gujarat-based trading mill, through its Europe-based associate trading arm, concluded a deal for 20,000 mt for delivery to Italy at $585/mt FOB last week, trade sources said. This level translates to around $635-640/mt CFR, market sources confirmed. But the new ex-India HRC price to southern Europe has been heard at $660/mt CFR this week. Moreover, some market sources believe that a deal has already been signed at this level. “$660mt CFR is achievable in Europe, though demand is not good,” an Indian source said.
“The mood over overseas sales has improved as sellers across the Asian region have been successful in pushing up prices,” an official at a private mill said.
“There is stronger buying interest across Asia and the Gulf, but no so much from the EU region. Local mills are targeting prices of $610-620/mt FOB and so upbeat is the mood that some mills are pulling out offers to re-submit revised higher prices and are in no hurry to conclude immediate deals,” he said.
