Local Indian hot rolled coil (HRC) prices have continued to lose ground amid weak domestic demand compounded by rising imports and high inventories in trade channels, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Monday, August 5.
Sources said that HRC prices are down INR 300/mt ($4/mt) to INR 51,300/mt ($613/mt) ex-Mumbai and have lost INR 500/mt ($6/mt) to INR 52,000/mt ($621/mt) ex-Chennai in the south.
According to the sources, around 160,000 mt of imported HRC, mostly ex-China, is expected to arrive at Indian ports over the first two weeks of August, which is expected to further aggravate the bearish market trend and prolong the downtrend of prices.
“End-use buyers are negotiating hard, seeking discounts even on the current low prices. Some large industrial users have also halted fresh bookings from mills, awaiting new base price announcements for August. Mills dropped July base prices and, considering the deeply depressed market conditions, the mills are most likely to cut base prices again this month,” a Mumbai-based distributor told SteelOrbis.
“The biggest concern is large bookings for ex-China material at prices as low as $495/mt FOB. It is being reported that a large part of this imported volume is being shipped to India via FTA countries and will avoid the import duty burden on landed prices. This trend is distorting the domestic market dynamics to the disadvantage of local producers,” he added.
$1 = INR 83.70
