Large Indian integrated steel mills have marginally lowered hot rolled coil (HRC) export prices to bag tonnages in the face of the easing of buying activity in key markets like China and Vietnam over the past week, SteelOrbis has learned on Monday, April 27.
Indian integrated steel mills have continued to remain aggressive in bagging tonnages in the absence of any significant domestic demand and have marginally lowered export prices by $5/mt to $370-380/mt FOB, market sources said. The surge in volumes and export contracts for ex-India HRC seen in the previous week has eased with buyers in these key markets becoming cautious about making large bookings.
The sources said that an eastern India-based steel mill has concluded an export contract at $374/mt FOB with a Vietnam-based trader and, though the exact volume could not be confirmed, a section of the market speculated that it was less than the 15,000 mt export contract concluded by the same steel mill in the previous week. The price level corresponds to about $394/mt CFR Vietnam.
A western India-based steel mill has closed an export booking for an estimated 8,000 mt for early June delivery with an Asian trader at around $378/mt FOB, though this volume is significantly lower than the 20,000 mt booked by the same mill in the previous week.
“Buyers are seeking tonnages below $400/mt on CFR basis. Indian steel producers are desperate to bag even low volume tonnage contracts in view of low domestic demand and have lowered export prices to meet buyers’ needs,” an Indian seller said.
There is a report that offers from India to Vietnam have already slipped to $390/mt CFR ($370/mt FOB) and, though there have been no confirmed bookings at this level recently, this price reflects the current market price level, sources said.
“China re-rollers are turning cautious with finished steel prices [in the local market] softening over the past week. Most of these Chinese re-rollers who had made bookings of ex-India HRC are awaiting successful execution and deliveries of recent contracts and are in no hurry to make fresh contracts,” an Indian source has told SteelOrbis. Most bookings to China were done at $385-395/mt CFR China in mid-April.
