A higher number of offers has emerged from Indian HRC exporters over the past week and trading activity has improved slightly as more local steel mills have been willing to export, with domestic supplies showing signs of oversupply, SteelOrbis has learned from trade and industry circles. Prices have posted some slight increase compared to the deal price levels last week, but more mills have decided to withdraw high-priced offers and have been ready to deal at the current level.
Ex-India HRC prices in deals are at $740-760/mt FOB, up by $10/mt on average from last week. The sources said that ex-India HRC offers have ranged at $735-770/mt FOB depending on the destination, while $770-780/mt FOB offers seen a week ago have disappeared.
“The mood among buyers in the Asian region is better as cheaper HRC availability [from China] is coming to an end, enabling Indian producers, facing a slowdown in domestic bookings, to offer higher volumes overseas,” an official at an eastern India-based private steel mill said.
“Mills’ inventories are still in check. But producers are more willing to push volumes overseas than even a month ago. The revival in interest in Asia and prices holding steady in the EU are supporting sellers here,’ he added.
According to sources, around 20,000-30,000 mt of ex-India coils were sold to Italy at around $800/mt CFR, which translates to about $760-765/mt FOB. This is the highest deal price level for now, while some sources have reported a deal at closer to $750/mt FOB to the EU. As SteelOrbis reported earlier, a week ago a contract from India to Europe was done at $740/mt FOB.
At the same time, market sources said that an eastern India-based steel mill has concluded two trades at about $740-750/mt FOB to traders for further sale in the Asian region.
