Demand in India for flat steel imports has remained inactive during the past week with ex-China offers remaining unchanged and the rising pessimism over manufacturing sector growth keeping traders and end-users away from making any overseas bookings, traders said on Wednesday, June 12.
“Most economic indicators are triggering pessimism as regards the manufacturing sector. There are a lot of doubts being cast on the authenticity of India’s macroeconomic growth figures of the past few years. Even high-frequency data like the monthly index of industrial production, monthly automobile sales and monthly energy consumption are depressed and hence steel end-users are reducing imports and conserving their foreign currency,” a Mumbai-based trader said.
“In view of depressed sales across sectors, end-users are in no mood to increase raw material inventories and even the generally soft international flat product prices are not attracting any significant buying interest either,” the trader added.
Ex-China HRC offers
Ex-China hot rolled coil (HRC) offers maintained during the past week at $530/mt CFR Mumbai, according to market sources. According to market sources, an aggregate volume of not more than 3,000-4,000 mt was booked by traders, while no significant imports have been reported by any large end-users.
Ex-China CRC offers
Ex-China cold rolled coil (CRC) offers have remained unchanged during the past week at $540/mt CFR Mumbai, according to market sources, who added that no significant bookings have been reported by either local traders or end-users during the past week.
Ex-China plate offers
Ex-China plate offers have remained at $570/mt CFR Mumbai, according to market sources, who added that no significant transactions have been reported during the past week.