Having shifted focus from Asian region to meet demand from the EU, Egypt and Turkey, Indian mills have continued to push for higher prices, but for limited volumes available as the mills were fully booked until the end of April and even one report emerged about a shipment diverted from Asia to the EU, SteelOrbis has learned from industry and trade circles.
Sources said that buyers from the EU and Turkey are increasingly looking for immediate shipments as offers from Ukraine and Russia have dried up in these markets, pushing up ex-India HRC prices. The tradable level for ex-India HRC was at $920-980/mt FOB for Turkey and the Middle East last week and at $1,030-1,050/mt FOB in case of European destinations and even an unconfirmed deal was heard at as high as $1,100/mt FOB by a western India-based mill which could assure delivery by mid-April. Most major offers for May shipment HRC from Indian mills to Turkey and the EU have been reported at $1,050/mt FOB and above. As a result, the SteelOrbis reference price has been increased from $920-1,030/mt FOB late last week to $950-1,050/mt FOB.
This compares with an average ex-India price in the range of $860-870/mt FOB just before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, trade circles said.
“Acceptable ex-India prices in Asia continue to stagnate at $850-860/mt FOB, but these are not viable for Indian mills as buyers in distant markets are aggressively seeking alternatives to supplies from Ukraine and Russia at much higher acceptable valuations for both buyers in emerging markets and local sellers,” a marketing official at a private mill said.
“We see the ex-India HRC target price consolidating above the $1,000/mt FOB mark as soon as local mills close their local order books and firm up export allocations for the new fiscal year and commence bookings for May-June,” he said.
“At present, the average export deal volume in the MENA region and the EU is not more than 10,000 mt and only one deal for 20,000 mt was reported by a private mill. Volume demand even at higher prices is much more. But mills don’t have such material for immediate shipments,” he said.
As reported by SteelOrbis earlier, a western Indian mill had a ready volume of 20,000 mt to conclude a deal with a buyer in Turkey at $990/mt CFR. But new offers from India for May shipment HRC have already increased to $1,100-1,120/mt CFR Turkey.
The same mill also reported a trade last week for 5,000 mt with a buyer in Egypt at a price of $980-990/mt CFR for the end of April.
Another western India-based mill has concluded a trade for 10,000 mt with an Italy-based buyer at the week’s highest price of $1,100/mt FOB, but the price level was heard in trade circles and not confirmed by the seller.
Trade circles said that an eastern Indian mill re-negotiated a delivery with an Asian buyer for 5,000 mt and a diverted shipment to the EU at around $990-1,050/mt FOB.
