Ex-India hot dip galvanized (HDG) coil prices have been maintained unchanged but deals have failed to emerge given the bid-offer disparity owing to the weak demand in the Middle East and uncertainties over the ongoing antidumping investigations in the EU, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Thursday, November 14.
Sources said that, while ex-India HDG (Z120) prices have been kept stable at $700-720/mt FOB, some large mills are heard to have received bids from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries at lows of $680-690/mt FOB, which have been found to be unviable by the sellers.
The sources said that, even though EU tariff quotas for imports from India are still not exhausted for the October-December quarter, distributors in Europe have not been willing to commit ex-India trades owing to the ongoing antidumping investigations on flat products and the early kicking-in of year-end considerations largely owing to demand being on the weaker side.
“The prospect of an outflow of material from China is keeping buyers in the West waiting for further declines in the price. Indian mills do not have any further leeway to adjust prices and push volumes overseas,” an official at a private sector mill told SteelOrbis.
“Some leading mills in China have been attempting to hike prices early this month. We are monitoring the situation and will determine our own export allocations for January-March based on our new assessment. But with bookings for January still some distance away for buyers in the West, we will need to be patient on the export front,” he added.