"There is not much confidence in the market. There are uncertainties over the short term price trend," said a Mumbai-based trader.
"As always anticipation of price adjustments by local mills has been triggered at the end of the month but prices have been holding their ground. Import offers were being lowered steadily but importers have also been holding out volume transactions in view of the uncertainty of the movement of the Indian rupee against the US dollar. It's a kind of stalemate in trading activity," the trader said.
"I would expect current prices to continue moving sideways in a narrow range until the market finds some definite direction either from local mills or imports next month," he added.
Market sources said that Chinese HRC offers have edged down by another $5/mt during the past week to the range of around $340/mt CFR Mumbai, for late-August delivery, while ex-South Korean offers have remained unchanged at least $10/mt higher than Chinese offers at around $350/mt CFR Mumbai. But most high volume transactions have been declined by Indian importers as the latter were unsure of short term movement of the rupee.
The sources said with Chinese offers having moved down by around $15-20/mt since the end of June, most importers were waiting for further declines before committing transactions, while it seemed that ex-South Korean HRC offers have edged out both in terms of volumes and prices since Korean offers were at higher levels.
$1 = INR 63.5