Indian hot rolled coil (HRC) prices have remained at around INR 34,000/mt ($534/mt) during the past week, as local mills decided to keep base prices unchanged through June and amid support from weak currency, traders said on Monday, May 18.
"Indications available from domestic steel mills show that most have been veering round to keeping base prices unchanged, anticipating an uptick in demand and support from the weakness of the Indian rupee," a Mumbai-based trader said.
"Also, local markets have seen improvements in transaction volumes as dealers have been making bookings, having reduced stocks at discounts in earlier months, and this provided support for HRC prices to hold their ground," he added.
Market sources said that the Indian rupee is forecast to continue to remain under pressure and, since it is not expected to rise above the INR 63 to a dollar mark, importers stayed away from bookings and no significant transactions for June shipments have been reported in the market.
The sources said that offers for HRC ex-China are down $5/mt during the past week, and moved down below the $500/mt mark to the range of $485-490/mt CFR Mumbai, but local buyers refrained from making any bookings, anticipating the Indian rupee will weaken further, and the current demand outlook does not warrant any imported stock build-up.
$1 = INR 63.67