Local India hot rolled coil (HRC) prices have edged up by INR 500/mt week on week to INR 42,300/mt ($611/mt) ex-works, even though trading volumes have fallen sharply as the market has become cautious over the slowdown in the manufacturing sector, traders said on Monday, April 15.
“The gain in local HRC prices has come largely amid very slow trading volumes and cannot be seen to constitute a trend. It is unlikely that prices will consolidate at higher levels as neither market intermediaries nor end-users are willing to restock and are focusing more on managing with lower inventories,” a Mumbai-based trader said.
“As per the latest data released by the government last week, India’s manufacturing sector recorded a growth of just 0.1 percent during February, the lowest in the past 20 months. This has clearly made buyers cautious and nervous over stepping up transactions as there does not seem to have been any change in demand over the past few months either,’ the trader added.
According to market sources, there has been a sharp rise in ex-Japan HRC imports during the past week and, if this were to be sustained, it would put renewed pressure on local HRC prices with a time lag and the gains of the past week would be short-lived.
$1 = INR 69.24