Local Indian hot rolled coil (HRC) trade prices have remained stable over the past week, supported by the recent launch of AD investigations against import HRC from China, Japan and Russia, with the first two accounting for 50 percent of total imports of HRC to India last year. Nevertheless, the local Indian HRC market is still characterized by poor trade volumes amid the demand depression during the current monsoon season, coupled with large industrial users awaiting possible price corrections and signals from mills on July base pricing, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Monday, July 6.
According to the sources, trade-level HRC prices are stable at INR 56,800/mt ($596/mt) ex-Mumbai and are also unchanged at INR 58,300/mt ($612/mt) ex-Chennai in the south.
Sources said that the price stability seen now could be attributed to India’s launch of antidumping investigations into imports from Japan, China and Russia, although the sources acknowledged that any positive decisions on imports were still some months away. The investigation period is the calendar year 2025 and market sources believe that any preliminary results should be expected not earlier than the end of this year. “The pressure on Indian HRC prices will continue from both local and export markets,” an Indian trader said.
There is still not any clarity on mills’ base pricing strategy for the current month. Sections of market participants said that current market conditions offer strong challenges to mills in balancing the conflicting dynamics of rising costs of production on the one hand and the risks of hiking base prices further aggravating the slowdown in stock movement and resulting in rises in inventories.
“The market mood ranges between cautious and negative. There is no clarity on pricing from producers and neither are there any positive drivers evident. There are excess inventories across the supply chain. The current price is stable purely on sentiments, based on hopes that an antidumping duty will curb import competition. But supply-side changes are unlikely to ensure stability over the medium term. The lack of demand will continue to exert pressure on prices,” a Mumbai-based distributor said.
$1 = INR 95.19
