Indian hot rolled coil (HRC) trade prices have increased, reacting to base price hikes announced by mills, with further upside movement expected in the course of the first full day of trading today after a new price was announced, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Monday, March 7.
The Indian HRC trade price is up INR 2,200/mt ($29/mt) to INR 68,400/mt ($898/mt) ex-Mumbai and up INR 2,000/mt ($26/mt) to INR 67,950/mt ($892/mt) ex-Chennai in southern region.
Sources said that trade prices are expected to be adjusted upward by a further margin as early reference prices are still at a discount or on a par with the new effective base prices of mills.
“The base price increase effected by mills with immediate effect is the stiffest in recent months. However, we do not expect resistance in the market. In fact, we expected trade prices to continue to seek higher levels on supply-side tightness as mills’ export bookings are full until mid-April as buyers in the EU are increasingly looking at India for alternate sourcing to Russia and Ukraine,” a steel sector analyst with a Mumbai-based financial advisory firm said.
“Our assessment is for trade prices to target INR 70,000/mt ($919/mt) in the immediate term and a peak seen in pre-pandemic months. Mills are well placed in terms of inventories and export bookings to push base prices by another INR 5,000/mt ($66/mt) in March, citing input cost increases, specifically energy and coking coal,” he said.
$1 = INR 76.20
