Indian flat steel imports have come to a near standstill, with deals for only marginal volumes reported in the market during the past week, as importers - both end-users and market intermediaries - have been unwilling to conclude transactions at higher prices, SteelOrbis learned on Thursday, January 2.
HRC offers breached $500/mt CFR mark during the past week with the sharpest increase seen for ex-Japan material. Sources said that ex-South Korea HRC offers were up at around $520-525/mt CFR compared to $490-495/mt CFR Mumbai in earlier weeks but no transactions were reported as end-users were wary of higher offers coupled with the weakening of the local currency. Ex-Japan HRC prices reached $525/mt CFR minimum.
However, the sources said that ex-China offers from traders were largely maintained at around $470/mt CFR Mumbai without duty, but only very limited transaction volumes were concluded as end-users were not willing to increase inventories for March-delivery HRC at the closing of the current fiscal year.
Only a few scattered deals have been reported for small volumes of ex-China HRC by western-India based re-rollers and a few merchant importers, with sources estimating the total aggregating volumes of such contracts not exceeding 15,000 mt.
