Indian flat steel imports have sustained during the past week although average contract volumes have fallen slightly with import offers largely stable at lower levels, traders said on Wednesday, November 21.
“The sharply appreciating Indian rupee currently a two-month high against the dollar prompted merchant importers to continue concluding transactions during the past week. However, contracted volumes were on the lower side as importers were expecting offers to soften further in the coming weeks and hence held back committing higher volume transactions,” a Mumbai based trader said.
“However merchant importers were mostly interested in ex-China flat steel products and both merchants and large domestic steel mills stayed away from ex-Japan offers possibly expecting further weakening of offers from Japanese exporters,” he added.
According to market sources, ex-China HRC offers have remained stable at $575/mt CFR Mumbai and an estimated 3,000-4,000 mt of volume were reported to have been contracted by merchant importers.
Ex-China CRC offers were down $20/mt during the past week to $625/mt CFR Mumbai, although import activity remained at a low ebb, according to traders.
They said that while modest volumes were contracted during the past week largely owing to the fact the fall in ex-China offers were slower than overall market conditions and importers were waiting for a sub-$600 per ton mark before committing higher volumes.
Market sources estimated import volumes in range of 2,000-3,000 mt being contracted for end-December deliveries.
According to market sources, ex-China plates offer were maintained at $640/mt CFR Mumbai but no significant import contracts were concluded as importers felt offers to be on a higher side and would prefer to wait for a sharper fall particularly as large stocks were available from local steel mills.