Indian large exporting steel mills have attempted to push up hot rolled coil (HRC) export offers to align them with their recently increased domestic base prices, but trading activity in key overseas markets like Southeast Asia has remained limited and deals have only been for thinner gauge ex-India HRC, SteelOrbis learned on Monday, January 13.
Market sources said large Indian steel mills have pushed up their HRC export prices by $10/mt week on week to $495-500/mt FOB. A few deals have been concluded during the week for coils with less than 3 mm thickness in this range. Offers from some Indian producers have been heard already at $500-505/mt FOB as overall allocation for the export market has remained limited.
The sources said that trading activity has also been low owing to the week-long holidays ending January 17 for the ‘harvest festival’ across the country.
According to sources, one eastern India-based steel mill has concluded a deal for an estimated 8,000 mt of HRC at $495/mt FOB in Vietnam, which corresponds to about $520/mt CFR. The same producer has reportedly sold a bigger volume of thinner gauge HRC at a premium of around seven percent though the volume of the shipment could not be ascertained in the market.
“There has been a spike in demand of thinner gauge HRC in overseas markets. Large Indian steel exporters are getting a good premium on exports of this grade and hence are lowering their own captive production of higher value-added products,” a manager at a western India-based steel mill said.
Offers for the Middle East have been heard at $520-530/mt CFR for March deliveries of Indian HRC, with some booking done in this range, SteelOrbis has learned. This price corresponds to about $500/mt FOB.
