Foreign hot rolled coil sellers to Egypt are trying to avoid sizeable price drops in their offers. However, the buyers are pessimistic and their price idea is much lower that the offered levels.
In the import HRC market in Egypt, the lowest offers are coming from India for now at $495/mt CFR for April shipments, SteelOrbis has learned. Turkish mills are quoting $500/mt CFR, down by around $5-10/mt over two weeks. In addition, some Japanese sellers are offering $500/mt CFR, but at the earliest for June shipments. While in the previous round HRC of various origins was booked at $490-500/mt CFR effective, this time, according to sources, the main buyers would be looking to purchase close to $450-460/mt CFR. “A lot of uncertainty is there in the market, with no clarity for the virus issue, consumption and shipments,” a source said.
Export business activity in Egypt has been minimal, mainly due to the European markets being largely locked up due to the spread of the virus. However, indicative offers to Egypt are at $530/mt CFR Jeddah, corresponding to around $510/mt FOB base. In Turkey, the latest HRC offers from Egypt were reported last week at $495/mt FOB with around $15/mt freight to the Iskenderun region.
