Indian exporters of hot dip galvanized (HDG) coil have increased their offers for the second consecutive week by $10/mt week on week to $665/mt FOB, reacting to the sustained strengthening of ex-China offers but with negligible trades in face of buyers’ resistance, traders said on Thursday, February 28.
“Indian commercial exporters have been buoyed by the steady rise in ex-China HDG offers and have increased their offers, but this is proving to be counter-productive as buyers, particularly in key markets like the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries have showed little interest in responding to such higher offers, resulting almost negligible transactions,” a Mumbai-based trader said.
“The low trading activity is further compounded by the fact that large Indian steel mills are not interested in pushing volumes overseas and instead are focusing on pushing up local flat steel prices to maximize margins as the current fiscal year comes to a close,” the trader added.
According to a steel sector analyst with a Mumbai-based financial services advisory firm, steel exports from India including HDG are expected to remain tepid in view of the sharp rise in domestic prices and, even as exporters tend to push up export offers in tandem with the rise in local prices, such a pricing strategy is unlikely to attract buyers in key overseas markets as demand in these regions remains soft.