Indian exporters of hot dip galvanized (HDG) coils have increased offers by $5/mt, for the second consecutive week, to $515/mt FOB due to weaker export interest from Chinese suppliers and increased import activity in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, SteelOrbis has learned.
According to traders, large Indian exporting steel mills were successful in improving both the number of deals and volumes in contracts with Gulf buyers during the past week.
“Indian HDG exporters are taking advantage of improved market sentiments and trades after a long hiatus. Improvement in buying interest from the Gulf is supported by the local currency falling to a two-month low against the US dollar, enticing exporting Indian steel mills with higher margins,” a Mumbai-based trader said.
Market sources said that a western India-based steel mill has reportedly concluded two separate deals with buyers in the GCC for end of December delivery at $510/mt FOB, but at least two traders said that the deals were concluded at a marginal discount of five percent as buyers wanted the benefits of the depreciating rupee to be factored into the contracts.
The traders said that increased export offers over the past two consecutive weeks coupled with the fall in value of the local currency against the dollar could trigger some resistance from buyers forcing some adjustments to offers.