Indian hot rolled coil (HRC) exporters have been interested in further pushing up prices, riding on previous sales in the EU and Turkey and expected further rises in the Asian region, but a number of mills have been holding back from active offering and are waiting for further momentum in trade conditions, SteelOrbis has learned from trade and industry circles.
Ex-India HRC prices have remained firm at $860-870/mt FOB since last week, but higher levels at $875-885/mt FOB have been expected by mills, given the ongoing good tradable prices in Turkey, the MENA region and the EU.
“Overall prices are rising in the global markets and buyers across geographies are accepting higher valuations. But the rate of the rise in Asia is below the expectations of Indian sellers. Therefore, there is a strategic shift in the focus of exporters towards other distant markets,” a source at a private mill said.
“Also, many mills are yet to finalize export allocations for the first quarter of the new fiscal year [April-June] after factoring in robust local sales,” the sources said.
The latest offer levels from Indian mills to Vietnam have been reported at $920/mt CFR, translating to $885/mt FOB, totally out of the range of interest of buyers, given much lower local prices and offers from China - $850/mt CFR from Formosa and $855-860/mt CFR from China.
In Turkey, a lower price offered for ex-India HRC has been reported from a trader for a position cargo at $910-920/mt CFR, but an indicative level from Indian mills has been confirmed at $930/mt CFR at the lowest. This level could be workable (in line with other foreign suppliers, like Indonesia for instance) with an Indian source saying a deal was done at around this level, which, however, could not be confirmed by the time of publication. The majority of market sources are discussing the position cargo offered at a lower level to Turkey last week.
The targeted level for Indian producers in Egypt is at around $875-880/mt FOB, the sources said.