"There is considerable anxiety in the market over the high domestic price of HRC, while prices ex-China have been moving down sharply," a Mumbai-based trader said.
"At present, demand is tepid and buyers are not willing to conclude transactions unless local steel mills adjust their prices. However, at the same time, there are no immediate indications of local mills considering such a move as most of them have been citing the rising costs of domestic raw materials," he said.
Market sources said import offers for ex-China HRC are at around $530/mt CFR Mumbai and the landed price inclusive of taxes and other levies averages at around $550-560/mt.
The sources, however, said that the volume of import transactions has continued to be low, since traders are not inclined to increase inventories during the current festival season. Nevertheless, if the price differential between domestic and imported HRC materials is maintained and if the Indian currency does not weaken further, the import competition facing domestic products will increase over the next few months, the sources added.
According to data released by the India government, steel imports arriving in India were up 23 percent during the April-August period, but the bulk of the imports consisted of long steel products. However, traders have said that imports of flat products including HRC are also expected to increase unless local mills can adjust their prices and push HRC supplies into the market.
$1 = INR 61.66