Local Indian HRC market impacted by sluggish demand and higher stocks

Five consecutive weeks of stability in the local Indian hot rolled coil (HRC) market have finally given way to a soft trend, with prices declining by INR 500/mt ($7/mt) in the past week to INR 35,000/mt ($515/mt) ex-works, traders said on Monday, June 27.
 
"After a prolonged period of stability, local HRC prices have finally started to react to sluggish demand conditions and the rise in stocks both at steel mills and dealers," a Mumbai-based trader said.
 
"However, the downward movement has still failed to revive any buying activity as end-users are anticipating the correction will gather momentum and as they are under no compulsion to make fresh bookings," the trader added
 
At the same time, some sources said that there is a lot of uncertainty over the extension of minimum import price (MIP) beyond August 2016 and its likely replacement by an antidumping duty and this uncertainty will continue to keep at least large end-use buyers away from the market and has put pressure on prices.
 
$1 = INR 67.97