Local Indian hot rolled coil (HRC) trade prices have slumped, reacting to clear signals of base price reductions by producers for current month deliveries and the expected fall in business activity during the spate of festival holidays ahead, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Monday, September 5.
Indian HRC trade prices have lost INR 800/mt ($10/mt) to INR 55,900/mt ($701/mt) ex- Mumbai and are down INR 1,000/mt ($13/mt) to INR 56,000/mt ($702/mt) ex-Chennai in the south.
Current trade HRC levels are just slightly lower than the new general range of ex-mill base prices announced today at INR 56,000-57,000/mt, down by INR 1,500-2,000/mt ($19-25/mt) since the previous month. Accordingly, market intermediaries were seen to be holding back fresh bookings, expecting further declines in trade prices.
“While on one hand September usually sees an uptick in demand as the monsoon season recedes, on the other hand the number of mills which had taken early annual maintenance shutdowns are expected to bring back production over the September-October period and supplies to the market are expected to increase. We assess the net impact to be a sideways narrow movement in prices in the coming weeks,” a Mumbai-based steel distributor said.
$1 = INR 79.80
