Indian flat steel imports have continued to fall during the past week both in terms of the number of contracts and volumes, with most commercial importers remaining away from the market and only small-volume trades concluded by a few actual users, traders said on Wednesday, March 6.
The traders said that the sharp increase in ex-China offers during the past week has prompted most Indian commercial importers not to conclude fresh transactions in order to avoid building up high-priced inventories in the absence of any demand uptick.
“Strangely, even the government ruling out the imposition of a minimum import price (MIP) during the past week has failed to boost sentiment towards imported flat steel, reflecting depressed demand,” a Mumbai-based trader said.
“Only a few large scale end-users were reported to have been active in concluding contracts for ex-China material, possible owing to short-term inventory management reasons, but the volumes of such trades have also been very low,” the trader added.
Ex-China hot rolled coil (HRC) offers have moved up significantly by $25/mt week on week to $550/mt CFR Mumbai, according to market sources.
The sources said that reports in the market have indicated that aggregate trades have not exceeded 3,000 metric tons and almost the entire volume was accounted for by south India-based end-user manufacturing units.
Ex-China cold rolled coil (CRC) offers have increased by $30/mt over the given week to $585/mt CFR Mumbai, market sources said.
According to reports received in the market, an aggregate volume in the range of 3,000-4,000 metric tons has been transacted during the past week, mostly accounted by manufacturing units in southern India, while small volumes have been contracted by commercial importers possibly for re-export to neighboring markets like Nepal, the sources added.
Ex-China plate offers to India
According to market sources ex-China plate offers have risen by $25/mt during the past week to $620/mt CFR Mumbai.
It has been heard from market sources that an estimated volume of 3,000 metric tons has been contracted directly from Chinese steel mills by a southern Indian thermal power plant manufacturer, the sources added.