Indian exporters of hot dip galvanized (HDG) coil have reduced their offer prices by $10/mt during the past week to $740/mt FOB due to the slight dip in buying interest from the US, traders said on Thursday, September 7.
“The decision to lower offers is surprising in view of the strong performance displayed by the Chinese HDG export offers and the upward bias of the Indian rupee against the US dollar,” a Mumbai-based trader said.
“The adjustment of Indian HDG export offers is limited to large exporting steel mills, while commercial traders are largely out of the market,” the trader added.
Market sources said that US buyers are seen to be making enquiries and are receiving offers but are staying away from concluding transactions. The sources reckoned that this is in reaction to reports of a rise in August shipments of HDG to the US and that US steel distributors are heavily stocked up even ahead of the expected Section 232 ruling.
Another trader commented that Indian exporters are finding pricing very challenging with the Indian rupee moving either direction of the INR 64 to the US dollar mark and this is reflected in two hikes and one decline in offers within the last 30 days.