An all-round softening of ex-China offers for flat steel products has helped sustain import bookings into India during the past week, with Indian commercial traders and steel mills focusing on ex-Japan material after its premium price was withdrawn, traders said on Wednesday, November 14.
“With the Indian rupee moving in a narrow range and ex-China flat steel offers significantly lowered for the second consecutive week, Indian commercial traders have been able to sustain inward contracts,” a Mumbai-based trader said.
“Premiums of ex-Japan flat steel products have largely vanished, making it more attractive for Indian importers who have largely been focusing on CRC imports, while large Indian steel mills have been importing ex-Japan CRC to maintain rolling mill capacity utilization rates,” the trader added.
Ex-China HRC offers are down $15/mt during the past week to $575/mt CFR Mumbai with most of the contract volumes accounted for by commercial importers, market sources said.
The sources said that it is significant that HRC import volumes have been sustained even at a time when local steel mills are reportedly seeing higher-than-normal inventories.
Commercial traders are possibly continuing to look at imports as the landed price of HRC at ports plus handling and taxes are still more competitive after the lowering of offers compared to local HRC prices as Indian steel mills are not adjusting base prices despite rising inventories, the sources added.
CRC offers to India
According to market sources, ex-China CRC offers have been cut by $25/mt during the past week to $645/mt CFR Mumbai. However, market sources said that the bulk of the volume contracted during the past week is for ex-Japan CRC, largely owing to the absence of premiums on offers, while Indian steel mills contracting for imports with some large automobile manufacturers are reported to have made bookings for December deliveries directly from Japanese steel mills. Sources said that the market estimates that the total contract volume stands in the range of 12,000-13,000 mt.
Plates offers to India
Ex-China plate offers have remained during the week at $640/mt CFR Mumbai but no significant transactions have been reported in the market during the week with sources maintaining that even buyers interested in low volumes have preferred to wait for price corrections to extend to steel plates before concluding any new import bookings.
