Indian exporters of hot dip galvanized (HDG) coil have maintained their offers unchanged during the past week at $770/mt FOB amid inactive market conditions, traders said on Thursday, February 8.
“With overseas transactions having virtually dried up, exporters are focusing only on their domestic market where demand has seemed strong,” a Mumbai-based trader said.
“Buyers from the US and Gulf are reportedly seeking discounts in the range of $15-20/mt. But producer-exporters are unable to conclude discounted transactions as both input costs and the exchange rate of the rupee against the dollar are rising,” the trader added.
According to two other traders, even though Chinese HDG exporters are not pushing export volumes in view of the Chinese New Year holiday later this month, this too has failed to trigger any rise in enquiries in the Indian market.
Market sources said that flat product prices are seen to be rising in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) market and there are reports that at least two large Indian steel mills’ offers in the range of $815-830/mt CFR Gulf have been rejected by buyers as the parties involved could not agree on a discount to conclude the transactions.