Indian flat steel exporters were seen to increase offers during the past week and were successful in concluding deals to Vietnam. However, demand from most other destinations – remaining Southeast Asian countries, Europe and the Middle East – were still limited.
Over the week ended on November 11, large steel mills increased hot rolled coil (HRC) offers to $420-425/mt FOB for December shipment, $20-25/mt up compared to the workable level over the previous week. At the same time, deal prices also moved up – by $10-12/mt to $410/mt FOB. A large western Indian based steel mill reported on Monday a deal for end-December delivery with buyers in Vietnam at $410/mt FOB (about $430-435/mt CFR), the volume of the contract could not be ascertained, but some sources said that the contact was for close to 50,000 mt. The previous transactions for ex-India HRC by traders over the week were at $425-430/mt CFR Vietnam, as SteelOrbis reported earlier.
No other significant volume transaction was reported in Southeast Asian market as buyers in Malaysia and Indonesia received offers from an eastern India based large steel mill but did not respond, the sources added.
Moreover, in Europe Turkish suppliers were more successful as they offered lower prices. Deals closed recently at around €390-395/mt ($429-434/mt) CFR Italy for at least 30,000 mt, this level corresponds to $400/mt FOB from India maximum, which was not available from suppliers in early November.
€1 = $1.1