Indian exporters of hot dip galvanized (HDG) have decreased their offers by around $10/mt week on week to $710/mt FOB, but have failed to trigger any change in the prolonged slackness of buying interest, traders said on Thursday, December 14.
“I would think that the lowering of offers is just notional as there are no overseas buyers active in the Indian market anyway,” a Mumbai-based trader said.
“Reports indicate that US HDG prices are stable and that US distributors are unlikely to conclude any import transactions unless there are significant gains in price differentials. The reduction in offers by Indian exporters is too little to make a change to the low buying interest,” the trader added.
At least two other traders said that, with domestic demand and prices for HDG remaining strong, most large Indian mills are focusing on domestic supplies, and so the decrease in export offers is largely notional. They said that, without further gains in US domestic prices, US steel distributors are unlikely to show interest in ex-India HDG as Indian exporters are hamstrung in terms of lowering offers further to push volumes, considering the appreciation of the Indian rupee against the dollar and rising domestic input costs.