Local Indian hot rolled coil (HRC) prices have weakened during the past week, moving down by INR 500/mt ($8/mt) to around INR 32,500/mt ($516/mt) amid in increase in import transactions and a stock build-up at the dealers' end, traders said on Monday, July 13.
According to a Mumbai-based trader, with local mills deciding to keep their July prices unchanged despite the sluggish volumes in the market and the reported build-up of stocks held by most market participants, interest in local HRC has been lukewarm and few market participants have been willing to conclude fresh bookings.
The trader said that the fall in HRC prices has been the sharpest in northern India where the rise in stocks held by market intermediaries was reported to be the highest among all regions.
At the same time, the trader pointed out that, with local mills maintaining their base prices unchanged and with a further fall in import offer prices, the volume of import transactions has increased during the past week, bringing local prices under renewed pressure.
Market sources said that ex-China HRC import offers have declined by another $10/mt to the range of around $345-350/mt CFR Mumbai for August deliveries, and, with the Indian rupee holding steady at around INR 63.40 to a dollar, the import market has become active after a brief lull.
$1 = INR 63.51