Local Indian hot rolled coil (HRC) prices have continued their upward trend into the New Year, moving up by INR 250/mt ($4/mt) over the past week to around INR 31,250-31,750/mt ($472-480/mt) ex-works against the backdrop of local steel mills keeping their prices unchanged and due to the ongoing complete absence of any import competition, traders said on Monday, January 4.
“The New Year has been good in terms of HRC prices. The market is veering round to the inevitability higher price levels in the absence of imports and due to local mills maintaining their base prices unchanged,” a Mumbai-based trader said.
“With no downside expected in the medium term, dealers are also seen to be restocking, leading to an improvement in market activity during the past week,” the trader added.
Market sources said that ex-China import offers are also seen to be inching up, precluding the possibilities of any revival of imports, thereby providing further support for local HRC prices.
Sources said that ex-China offers have increased by $5/mt during the past week to the range of $300-310/mt CFR Mumbai but no transaction has been reported in the market.
However, a section of the market has cautioned that, with the Indian government reducing import duty on ex-South Korea HRC to 0.63 percent from the previous 1.23 percent, the impact of this has yet to be factored in by the market.