Indian exporters of hot dip galvanized (HDG) coil have lowered their offers by $15/mt week on week to $635/mt FOB, but have failed to conclude any significant deals during the past week with buyers becoming cautious amid the US-China trade skirmish, traders said on Thursday, May 9.
Market sources state that Indian exporters have been forced to lower offers in response to the softening of ex-China HDG offers as key markets have been hit by jitters over the renewed threats of tariff retaliations by the US on Chinese exports.
“Lowering offers have not yielded any positives for local commercial exporters or large steel mills. Pricing can do little when larger trade dynamics are threatened by a fresh bout of trade war between the two largest economies,” a Mumbai-based trader said.
Market sources said that, apart from nervousness over the trade war, the start of Ramadan has also resulted in a virtual halt in trading activity and in buying interest from key markets for Indian exports like the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) markets where buyers did not even respond to offers.