After four consecutive week of downward movement, prices in the local Indian hot rolled coil (HRC) market have stabilized, remaining unchanged during the past week at INR 44,800/mt ($651/mt) ex-works, since domestic steel mills have indicated that base prices will be kept unchanged for current month deliveries, traders said on Monday, August 6.
“Local steel mills are unlikely to make any changes to their HRC base prices. Prices are holding out but market sentiment appears to be weak considering low trading activity and dealers’ unwillingness to increase bookings,” a Mumbai-based trader said.
“The price stability is likely to be short-lived considering reports of export shipments by large steel mills tapering off during the past week and high inventories at both steel mills and dealers,” the trader added.
According to two other traders, some large mills lowered export offers by around $15-20/mt to levels of $600/mt FOB, but no significant volume transactions have been reported in the market, increasing concerns over inventory buildups and resulting pressure on local prices.
$1 = INR 68.8