Ex-China flat steel imports have continued to remain muted in India both in terms of volumes and the number of deals, with offers showing a mixed trend, traders said on Wednesday, March 27.
“While ex-China offers for hot rolled coil have edged upwards, cold rolled coil prices have moved down through the past week with steel plate prices remaining stable,” a Mumbai-based trader said.
“But trading activity has remained at a low ebb as commercial importers have been unwilling to make commitments owing to year-end considerations and having exhausted bank working capital limits for the current fiscal year,” the trader added.
However, despite the lack of activity in ex-China material, the market’s focus has remained on the new trend of flat steel product import shipments originating from Iran, according to market sources.
The sources said that, while local Indian producers were raising protests with the government over such Iranian imports, the market has been witnessing a sharp rise in flat steel imports from Iran, the landed prices of which are sharply lower than those of most imports, with ex-Iran imports also being one of the reasons for slack buying interest in ex-China offers.
Ex-China hot rolled coil (HRC) offers have edged up by $8/mt week on week to $588/mt CFR Mumbai, according to market sources.
While negligible volumes have been reported in the market during the week, market sources said that deals for an aggregate volume of about 10,000 mt of ex-Iran HRC, transshipped through the United Arab Emirates (UAE), have been concluded during the past week by traders.
Market sources said that the landed price of ex-Iran HRC excluding import duty is estimated at INR 36,000/mt ($529/mt) against INR 40,572/mt ($588/mt) CFR Mumbai from China, making evident the comparative cost benefits of import shipments from Iran vis-à-vis China.
Ex-China cold rolled coil (CRC) offers have moved down by $15/mt during the past week to $600/mt CFR Mumbai, according to market sources.
The sources said that, despite lower offers, trading activity and volumes have remained low with commercial exporters unwilling to conclude large bookings.
Market reports estimated that total volumes contracted for early April delivery are be around 3,000 mt, with sources saying that most of these trades have been accounted by commercial exporters possibly for re-export to neighboring Nepal.
Ex-China plate offers to India
Ex-China plate offers have remained unchanged during the past week at $645/mt CFR Mumbai, according to market sources, who added that no significant transaction volume has been reported in the market during the week.