Indian exporters of hot dip galvanized (HDG) coils have marginally pushed up offers by $5/mt during the past week to $525/mt FOB, riding on the back of a slight uptick in small-volume demand in key markets like the Gulf and Southeast Asian markets, traders said on Thursday, October 10.
“Large exporting steel mills are attempting to push up offers in view of the slight rise in buyers’ interest and to offset the consolidation of the local currency at higher levels against the US dollar,” a Mumbai-based trader said.
“The increase has been marginal as exporters are continuing to test their pricing against still modest buying,” he added.
According to market sources, the HDG export market has witnessed higher activity. Buyers in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) have reportedly concluded deals for ex-India HDG, but volumes were still small as buyers have been cautious since demand in the region continues to remain low and most of the deals have been concluded by traders restocking, the sources said.
One western India-based large steel mill is reported to have concluded a contract for early November delivery with buyers in Malaysia, but this was at a discount of about five percent on FOB basis, thereby negating the overall marginal increase in offer levels seen in the market.