Indian exporters of hot dip galvanized (HDG) have maintained their offers unchanged during the past week at $710/mt FOB, but have been able to significantly improve transaction volumes on the back of strong demand among US steel distributors, traders said on Thursday, March 16.
"The hike of around $20/mt in offers early in the month does not seem to have had any impact on transaction volumes. On the contrary, the increase seems to have been absorbed by buyers with US steel distributors significantly increasing bookings during the past week," a Mumbai-based trader said.
At least two other traders said that several Indian exporters are even considering a second hike in their HDG offers in the current month if the upturn in buying interest is sustained.
A second increase in HDG export offers may have become a necessity as the Indian currency over the past week has appreciated significantly over the past week, thereby negatively impacting margins from export earnings, the traders said.
The size of the increase will largely depend on the currency market as the Indian rupee has continued to appreciate despite the interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve, the traders added.