Local Indian hot rolled coil (HRC) trade level prices have kept moving downwards amid muted market conditions with intermediaries and end users pausing to assess forthcoming demand and price indication from large mills for the current month, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Monday, September 1.
Sources said that HRC trade price has settled at INR 49,500/mt ($562/mt) ex-Mumbai, down by INR 500/mt ($5.6/mt) week on week and at INR 51,000/mt ($579/mt) ex-Chennai in the south, down by INR 600/mt ($7/mt) over the past week.
According to sources, end-user industries have remained absent from the market as they assess demand ahead of the festive and busy season, while distributors have also refrained from restocking, waiting for mills to announce September base prices. With the monsoon ending and festivals approaching, a new demand pattern is expected to emerge in the coming weeks. However, market participants remain cautious about the extent of the anticipated uptick, as the overall manufacturing growth outlook remains bearish.
A section of the market was of the view that, with the landed price of imports—after the imposition of a 12 percent safeguard duty—now above local trade prices, domestic mills would have headroom to increase base prices. Market participants said they expected a hike of around INR 1,500/mt ($17/mt) across the entire flat product range.
“Market activity is low and there is mainly cautious optimism. Demand will rise in the coming months but may fall below expectation owing to overall sluggish macroeconomic indicators,” a Mumbai based distributor told SteelOrbis.
“There is limited downside risk. But upside potential too is limited and hence we expect the market to be range-bound in the short and medium term,” he added.
$1= INR 88.26