Indian exporters of hot dip galvanized (HDG) have reduced their offers by $20/mt during the past week to $760/mt FOB but with little impact on the ongoing scarce trading activity, with US buyers virtually absent from the Indian market, traders said on Thursday, March 15.
Market sources said that the reduction in offer levels in response to lower ex-China HDG offers was largely "notional" and it did little to improve the recent low activity.
The sources said that, after the imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports in the US, domestic steel mills in the US increased their flat steel prices, but, in view of the tariffs, no US steel distributor is in the mood to consider import shipments.
As regards markets in the Gulf Co-operation Council region, the lower offers actually formalized the discounts which were being offered to push volumes in the market over the past few weeks and the size of the reduction almost matched the average discount that was already being put on the table for Gulf buyers, the sources added.
However, the sources said that, despite earlier discounts and the subsequent lowering of offers for Gulf buyers, transactions in the Gulf region have remained slack amid the combination of low demand in the region and the perception among buyers that, after the imposition of the US tariffs, flat product prices will continue to seek lower levels given the greater availability of volumes among exporting countries.