Indian hot rolled coil (HRC) exporters have continued to improve overseas realizations amid weakening local sales, riding on the back of increased prices in key markets like Vietnam, Turkey and the EU and limited ex-China offers, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Monday, March 15.
Ex-India HRC deal prices have improved by $15-25/mt from last week to $730-830/mt FOB depending on the sales destination, with the lower end of the range corresponding to sales to Asia, while the higher end corresponds to sales to the EU. The average reference deal price has reached $780/mt FOB.
India has been among the very few suppliers submitting offers in the Asian markets such as Vietnam and major buyers like downstream converters to cold rolled coil (CRC) have not had many options given the lack of competitive ex-China offers. As a result, two deals for Indian SAE1006 HRC were done at $750/mt CFR or slightly above last week, while a fresh deal for 30,000 mt has been concluded at $760/mt CFR Vietnam. This latest price translates to about $730/mt FOB, while a week ago it was at $715/mt FOB.
Some sales to Asian trading firms have been reported at above $760/mt CFR, but this has not been confirmed by the time of publication.
The workable price level in Asia has remained among the lowest for Indian HRC exporters. Indian integrated steel mills have been able to secure higher valuations from buyers in the EU, surging far above the $800/mt mark on FOB basis against ongoing tight supplies and increasing local sales price in the EU market. The negotiations for Indian HRC have been held at $875-880/mt CFR in Europe lately, with some deals done. This level corresponds to $830/mt on FOB basis and it is up $20-25/mt from a week ago, sources confirmed to SteelOrbis.
In addition, 50,000-60,000 mt of Indian HRC in total have been booked to Turkey, with the latest deal price at $820/mt CFR on average, translating to $775-780/mt FOB.
The tradable level for imported HRC in the UAE increased to $780-785/mt CFR for re-rolling HRC, but some Indian suppliers, being bullish, have voiced new offers at as high as $830/mt CFR or $795/mt FOB.
