Indian hot rolled coil (HRC) exporters have maintained their export offers in the range of $445-450/mt FOB and, even though trades have been limited during the past week, large domestic steel mills are expected to commit higher export allocations for February shipment considering the stiff base price hikes in local markets and the risks of inventory increases, SteelOrbis has been informed.
A few deals have been concluded for end-of-January deliveries to key markets like Asia and Europe, but the volumes in most deals have been on the lower side and all below the 20,000 mt mark.
At least one HRC deal for about 20,000 mt was concluded by Tata Steel at $445/mt FOB to Vietnam for end-of-January delivery, which corresponds to $465-470/mt CFR. Similarly, JSW Limited reportedly concluded a deal at $447/mt FOB to Malaysia and, though confirmation of the volume is not readily available, sources said that it was lower than 20,000 mt.
Another western India-based steel mill has reported an export deal for around 15,000 mt to the EU at around $450/mt FOB, the sources said. The price is equivalent to about $485/mt CFR and is in line with offers announced a week earlier.
“Export trade has remained quiet during the past week. But this is expected to change shortly after most large local steel mills have gone in for hefty hikes in domestic base prices,” a Mumbai-based trader said.
“In view of the sustained slowdown in demand, these steel mills are expected to step up their export thrust in the coming week after they finalize their pricing - local and export - over the next one week. Most steel mills are expected to keep export offers stable to be able to push volumes overseas and de-risk inventory build-up in the face of resistance to the recent price increase in the domestic market. This would mean that the steel mills will have to set aside higher volume allocations for their export marketing starting January for end-of-February and early March delivery bookings,” he added.