Indian flat steel export offers have been lowered across the board but very few transactions, barring a few low-volume transactions to neighboring Nepal, have been concluded during the past week, traders said on Monday, November 12.
The traders said that, while ex-India flat steel product offers have been lowered, this has not matched the overall fall in prices in most key target markets and so buyers largely stayed away from Indian material.
“Large Indian exporting steel mills have been unable to match the fall in flat steel product prices from China in the Southeast Asian region during the week. These Indian steel mills are also not compelled to push volumes overseas as local sales prices in India have maintained their strength even though mill-end inventories are reported to be on the rise,” a Mumbai-based trader said.
Ex-India HRC offers have been lowered by around $10/mt week on week to $580/mt FOB. Market sources said that only small volumes of about 3,000 mt were transacted during the past week, for end-November delivery to Nepal.
The sources said that some buyers from Vietnam received offers but did not respond and it was believed that ex-China HRC offers were found to be more competitive, hence the overall lack of buying interest from Southeast Asian markets.
Ex-India CRC export offers have been sharply reduced by $20/mt week on week to $600/mt FOB but this has failed to attract any buying interest as Indian commercial exporters and large steel mills have not been able to match the cuts in offers from exporters in China.
Ex-India steel plates export offers have been lowered by $10/mt week on week to $630/mt, but no transactions have been reported during the past week either by large steel mills or commercial exporters.