Ex-India hot rolled coil (HRC) prices have been kept stable during the past week and, even though the prolonged silent trade conditions were broken by some occasional deals to Europe and the Middle East, these failed to bring any optimism among large mills as buyers across most key destinations continued to shun imports from India.
Sources said that large mills kept ex-India HRC prices unchanged in the range of $510-540/mt FOB, but bids have mostly been lower in the range of $480-500/mt FOB, the sources said. According to the sources, given the slight revival of demand in the Middle East, at the end of last week an Indian supplier sold 25,000 mt of HRC at $540/mt CFR UAE for January shipment, in line with ex-Japan HRC deals in the UAE.
In the meantime, interest in Indian HRC has remained minimal in Europe due to duty-related risks, though, according to sources, an eastern India-based mill sold around 3,000 mt for delivery to Antwerp at $585/mt CFR, while another mill also reported a trade for 5,000 mt for delivery to Rotterdam at $590/mt CFR. However, this information has not been confirmed by the time of publication.
These trades have failed to enthuse producers, who largely felt that this was unlikely to be sustained or gain momentum as industrial activity in major economies like Germany remains on the weaker side and distributors are mostly sufficiently stocked and do not need to look at increasing import exposures.
“The volumes of trade in imports are nominal and cannot be claimed to set a new trend. At the same time, buyers in other destinations have multiple cheaper options to source imports,” a source at a private mill told SteelOrbis.
“We do not think any Indian sellers can match a sub-$500/mt FOB price, which is a level currently acceptable to Asian buyers,” another source said.