Indian exporters of hot dip galvanized (HDG) coil have lowered their offers by $10/mt during the past week to $680/mt FOB amid the depreciation of the local currency, triggering a slight uptick in transactions with buyers in Southeast Asian markets, but failing to evoke any interest in traditional Gulf markets, traders said on Thursday, October 10.
“The rapid depreciation of the Indian rupee which is now weaker than INR 74 to the dollar provided a window for Indian HDG exporters to offer aggressive prices,” a Mumbai-based trader said.
“However, reports in the market indicated that this has only resulted in a slight rise in shipment volumes to Indonesia and Malaysia, but buyers in the Gulf have remained disinterested, presumably owing to slow movement of stocks in Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) markets,” the trader added.
Market sources state that almost all transactions during the past week were accounted for by commercial exporters, while Indian steel mills have remained on the sidelines as rising domestic flat product prices have ensured higher margins compared to exports.