Local Indian cold rolled coil (CRC) market have come under renewed pressures during the past week with prices decreasing by INR 500/mt to INR 44,500/mt ($677/mt) ex-works, in reaction to low trading activity during the festival holidays and sluggish volume off-take by end-users, traders said on Tuesday, October 2.
“The spate of festival holidays over the past week and more festivals later this month have prompted market participants to reduce their transaction activity,” a Mumbai-based trader said.
“At the same time, there is no appetite among end-users to conclude fresh transactions, and so most dealers are reporting higher inventories at the start of the month,” the trader added.
Two other traders said that large mills are facing a weakening of the export market with export offers of ex-India CRC falling from levels of $620/mt FOB to around $600/mt FOB during the past week, and this could discourage Indian mills from shipping higher volumes overseas.
It is apprehended that, with export volumes poised to decline, Indian steel mills will push more volumes into the domestic market and, without any lowering of base prices, fresh supply-side pressures will likely emerge in the Indian market, the two traders added.
$1 = INR 65.54