Indian HDG export offers stable but sluggish activity persists

Inactivity has continued to mark Indian hot dip galvanized (HDG) coil exports with offers remaining unchanged during the past week at $690/mt FOB and with buyers, particularly those in the US, staying away, traders said on Thursday, February 23.
 
"According to reports received in India, most US buyers are waiting for a definite price trend to emerge before concluding fresh import deals. During most of the past week, US buyers have been postponing transactions and so export activity from the Indian market has remained low," a Mumbai-based trader said.
 
"Indian exporters have little scope to keep pushing volumes at current HDG offer levels as these prices are lower than domestic HDG prices and exporters have little leeway to reduce offers and adopt a more aggressive pricing policy," the trader added.
 
Market sources said that Indian HDG offers to the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) region are marginally up by $10-15/mt week on week on FOB basis in response to Chinese suppliers hiking their export prices. However, the sources said that only a limited number of transaction have been concluded as GCC buyers are cautious since demand in the market remains depressed amid uncertainties regarding short-term oil prices despite the cutback in production by OPEC.