Indian flat steel export offers have indicated some slight declines during the past week but buyers have continued to stay away from concluding fresh bookings claiming that the reduction in offers is insufficient against the backdrop of the sharper fall in prices seen in the international markets, traders said on Monday.
“The marginal adjustments in flat steel export offers are clearly not enough to attract buyers from key markets like Southeast Asia. Indian commercial exporters and large domestic mills are unwilling to aggressively price offers at a time when ex-China offers are being shipped at more competitive prices,” a Mumbai-based trader said.
“The reasonable stability of the rupee above the INR 70 to the dollar mark is also contributing to the lack of Indian exporters’ competitiveness in pricing their offers aggressively,” the trader added.
Indian hot rolled coil (HRC) offers have been marginally lowered by $5/mt during the past week to $550/mt FOB, according to market sources.
Neither commercial exporters nor large domestic steel mills have been able to transact any significant volumes amid reports that offers of ex-China HRC to key markets like Vietnam and Indonesia have declined by sharper margins, prompting buyers in the latter markets to stay away from Indian offers, the sources said.
The sources said that only nominal volumes aggregating around 4,000 mt have been booked for shipment to a neighboring country like Nepal.
Indian offers for cold rolled coil (CRC) have been maintained unchanged during the past week at $560/mt FOB, according to market sources.
The sources said that no new bookings have been reported in the market as buyers are clearly not responding to higher offers at a time when prices of shipments from other key exporting countries are showing signs of softening.
The sources, however, are not able to explain exporters’ strategy of keep CRC export offers stable, particularly as most commercial exporters and large domestic steel mills are reportedly carrying higher than normal inventories given the slowdown in their domestic sales.
Indian export offers for plates have been lowered by $10/mt week on week to $595 /mt FOB, according to market sources.
The sources said that market reports indicate that a western India-based large steel mill booked an export contract estimated at 7000 mt for June delivery to buyers in Indonesia, while no new bookings have been reported by any Indian commercial exporters during the past week.