Indian HRC steel export trades have continued at very low levels with large local steel mills uninterested in forcing volumes overseas in view of higher domestic realizations and very low bids in the international hot rolled coil (HRC) market, SteelOrbis has been informed.
Indian flat steel exports in January 2020 were down 21 percent from the corresponding month of the previous year, indicating that large mills were definitely focusing on domestic sales and this trend is expected to continue in February-March and so the market has been seeing a sharp fall in export deals both in terms of volumes and the number of trades concluded.
Official offers for ex-India HRC have declined from $510-520/mt FOB to $495-500/mt FOB over the past week, but the “fair” prices have been much lower - at $470-490/mt FOB for different market destinations, according to sources. “This is the market-wise pricing, but there were no deals,” a producer said.
Market sources said that there were stray successful deals for small tonnages concluded during the past week at around $500/mt FOB to Southeast Asia, but major customers have been not interested in purchases at such a level. There have been offers to Vietnam at $520-525/mt CFR (about $495-500/mt FOB) from India, which has totally failed to attract interest as deals for Chinese SAE1006 HRC have been concluded at $475/mt CFR.
“Our longstanding buyers in key markets are receiving offers, but are not responding. Most buyers are keeping a close watch on China as the demand slump in that country has pushed higher the flow of aggregate volumes in Southeast Asia and it will become difficult for Indian flat products to compete at a time when large steel mills here are facing cost pressure,” an official at Steel Authority of India (SAIL) said.