Negative sentiments have emerged in the market for Indian hot rolled coil (HRC) exports during the past week, conflictingly attributed to year-end considerations as well as the price correction in the Asian market and the inactivity in the European market due to the holidays, traders and officials at exporting steel mills said. At the same time, most integrated steel mills were seen not to be submitting lower offers.
The indicative price level for ex-India HRC has settled in the wide range of $710-780/mt FOB, with the level $10/mt lower on average than last week due to the lower end of the range declining by $20/mt. This lower end of the range shows that sentiment in the Asian market weakened after ex-China positions cargoes were booked at lower levels to Vietnam. And the tradable level for ex-India HRC to Asia was also impacted as a result, but most mills from India were not willing to decrease offers. The higher end of the range translates to the levels in previous bookings to Europe late last year and has not changed since then.
“We are hearing of some softening of ex-China HRC offers in Asian markets. It is too early to say if this price line will be sustained or trigger a correction. Our assessment is that the downtrend is largely owing to year-end considerations and that the finished steel market will remain positive and strong and hence we are not adjusting our export prices yet,” said an official from Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL). “HRC export allocation remained low and priority is domestic sales. The strong performance of the rupee against the US dollar is also a disincentive to adjust ex-India prices and push volumes overseas. We will wait and tide the short-term downtrend,” he added.
Some market sources said that there were a few small-volume bookings to Asia at the price level of $680-690/mt FOB, but this has not been confirmed by the time of publication. And sources said that it could be only connected with the attempts of sellers to maintain a market presence in Asia and was not reflecting the real market price level.
