Indian exporters of hot dip galvanized (HDG) coil have increased their offers by around $10/mt during the past week to $655/mt FOB riding on higher ex-China offers to the Gulf region, traders said on Thursday, February 21.
“Indian exporters have raised their prices as ex-China HDG offers increased and as flat product prices in the Gulf Co-operation Council market rose,” a Mumbai-based trader said.
“However, the hike in offers was not matched by any uptick in trading activity, indicating that prices have risen largely owing to exporters trying to maximize margins from small-volume transactions without any significant demand revival,” the trader added.
According to market sources, a few commercial exporters have been able to conclude small-volume HDG transactions to Vietnam, but unconfirmed reports indicate that the exporters were able to close deals only by offering discounts.
It is suggested by the sources that Indian exporters acceded to discounts of $10/mt, for an effective FOB price of $645/mt, thereby bucking the overall market trend of increasing offers, at least in the case of shipments to Vietnam, the sources added.