Indian exporters of hot dip galvanized (HDG) coils have been increasing offers for the third straight week, by $10/mt week on week to $535/mt FOB, on the back of a sustained uptick in demand in the Gulf region and Southeast Asia, SteelOrbis has learned on Thursday, November 28.
Most of the trades during the past week have been concluded by western India-based steel mills. Market sources said that one such steel mill concluded a contract with a Gulf buyer for January delivery and the deal was reported in the range of $535-537/mt FOB. According to the sources, another local steel mill was able to conclude a 5,000 -7,000 mt export contract for January delivery at $535/mt FOB.
At least two deals were reported in the market by an eastern India-based steel mill with buyers in Malaysia at around $535/mt FOB for end-of-January delivery, the sources added.
“HDG volume shipments from China eased as Chinese steel mills were getting good margins in the domestic market and hence Indian steel mills were able to become more active and leverage the rise in demand in the Gulf region where buyers seem to be absorbing higher offers. It is very rare that local steel mills have been able to sustain increasing export offers over three consecutive weeks,” a Mumbai-based trader said.
However, at least two other traders expressed caution over the sustainability of higher export activity seen in the case of ex-India HDG. These traders cited reports that the EU has launched an investigation amid concerns that Chinese HDG exporters have been circumventing antidumping duties, and said that, if the investigation is able to establish this fact, it is possible that larger volumes will be diverted to other markets like the Gulf and Asia, making higher Indian offers unsustainable in the medium term.