Indian exporters of hot dip galvanized (HDG) have lowered their offers for the third consecutive week, reducing them by $10/mt week on week to $615/mt FOB, but have still failed to push significant volumes overseas owing to dull trading activity in the key Gulf market, with buyers generally expecting a further fall in offers, traders said on Thursday, May 23.
“Business activity in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) market has remained dull owing to Ramadan. In most key markets for ex-India HDG like Southeast Asia, buyers have been staying away from making fresh bookings, anticipating a further downturn in offer levels triggered by the steady softening of ex-China offers,” a Mumbai-based trader said.
“I do not see Indian commercial exporters having any further pricing power to push volumes overseas after pruning offers for three consecutive weeks. Hence, overseas shipments of ex-India HDG are expected to remain stalled in the short term at least,” the trader added.
Two other traders citing reports received from their buyers said that ex-China HDG offer are yet to bottom out and will continue to seek lower levels as the China-US trade war shows no signs of resolution, adding that Indian commercial exporters do not have the pricing power to match a further fall in ex-China offers and so they are expected to remain on the sidelines.