Local Indian hot rolled coil (HRC) prices have marginally declined by INR 100/mt ($1.6/mt) during the past week to around INR 32,400/mt ($506/mt) ex-works amid expectations of price adjustments by local steel mills, traders said on Monday, August 3.
According to a Mumbai-based trader, there has been a lot of talk in the market about major domestic steelmaker Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) adjusting its base price by INR 700/mt ($11/mt) or more for August deliveries and this has impacted prices at the dealers' end, though transaction volumes have remained slack during the past week.
The trader said that it is possible that SAIL and other large flat product producers will take rising import volumes into consideration and lower their local prices, while announcements from steel mills are expected in the course of the coming week.
Market sources said that ex-China HRC offers have remained unchanged at around $340/mt CFR, holding on to the $10/mt gain recorded late last month, but the volume of transactions has remained limited.
Several market participants said that more than the rise in import offers it was the Indian rupee depreciating and breaching the INR 64 to a dollar mark which held back importers from concluding transactions.
Even the rise in import offers from China is expected to be a blip rather than a trend and any further $15-20/mt fall in ex-China offers could again open up inward shipments, forcing local steel mills to hasten base price adjustments, the sources added.
$1 = INR 64.01