Ex-India hot rolled coil (HRC) prices have been maintained unchanged by large mills but the ongoing antidumping investigations in Europe have kept sellers away from submitting bids, while buying interest in the Middle East has been slightly better but deals have failed to materialise owing to geopolitical reasons in the region and competitive alternatives.
Sources said that, while ex-India HRC prices have been kept stable $540-550/mt FOB, there has been a certain optimism among local mills on the export front following improvements seen in the market in China and expectations holding the promise of a revival in trade activity. Offers for ex-India HRC in Europe have been voiced at $590-595/mt CFR, according to sources, while the problem is that no EU customers want December arrivals since from January a provisional antidumping duty is expected to be announced.
“Developments in China are positive, impacting in a better way the Southeast Asian region, but Indian sellers have already vacated this destination. Europe does not seem to hold much selling potential with local prices declining there. The ongoing antidumping investigations are also keeping importers away from committing deals,” a source at Tata Steel Limited told SteelOrbis.
“The mood on exports is good only in the long-term perspective. The recovery in China can reduce cheap material coming out of the country. Relatively tighter supplies can offer support to workable prices. But there is still a lot of weakness on the demand side in most global markets. So, for us wait-and-watch continues,” another source said.