Indian hot rolled coil (HRC) exporters have become more active and have increased prices slightly reacting to higher ex-China offers, but trading has not improved as Chinese and Russian exporters have been giving more competitive prices in Southeast Asia and demand in the Middle East and Europe has been limited at current prices, SteelOrbis has learned.
The workable price level for Indian HRC from mills has been at $515-525/mt FOB, up by $5/mt on average from last week. Some mills have increased offers to $525-530/mt FOB, but could agree at $520-525/mt FOB.
The low export allocation for December-January shipment and higher tonnage commitments contracted to local buyers have prevented Indian integrated steel mills from aggressive pricing in the export market. “Our first commitment is to meet domestic demand as supplies are very tight. Realizations from exports are still lower than domestic margins. Export prices will need to increase at least another 5-10 percent before domestic exporting steel mills can reconsider their existing marketing strategy of reducing export allocations during the rest of the current fiscal,” an official at Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) said.
Most mills have been offering to Vietnam at not lower than $540/mt CFR at the moment, while there have been reports that traders and mills resumed offering to Vietnam at $535-540/mt CFR in the middle of last week, sources have said. Offers to the UAE have also been heard, at $540-545/mt CFR from India. “Indian mills are currently not aggressive,” a source said.