Local Indian hot rolled coil (HRC) prices have lost ground amid scarce trading and sluggish demand and further downside risks amid import pressures, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Monday, August 19.
Sources said that HRC trade prices are down INR 1,000/mt ($12/mt) to INR 50,300/mt ($600/mt) ex-Mumbai and are down INR 1,000/mt ($12/mt) to INR 51,000/mt ($608/mt) ex-Chennai in the south. At the same time, though they are not official yet, market insiders said that lower levels from mills at INR 48,500-49,000/mt ($578-584/mt) have already been voiced this week.
Furthermore, sources citing information from trade and port cargo schedules said that imported HRC arrivals by the end of August are expected to be around 106,000 mt, which would continue to put pressure on local prices.
There was some optimism over the Directorate General for Trade Remedies (DGTR) launching anti-dumping investigations into ex-Vietnam HRC imports, but a section of the market said that such investigations are normally a protracted process, and any new import tariff barrier would be seen several months later.
“Industrial end-user buyers are only committing small-volume bookings. There is glut of material across the entire supply chain and it will continue to put downward pressure on trade prices as there is no demand uptick on the horizon,” a Mumbai-based distributor told SteelOrbis.
“With trade barriers being seen in Europe, ex-India exports are almost at a halt and most large mills are diverting export allocations for the current quarter (July-September) to local merchant sales, further aggravating the supply glut,” he added.
$1 = INR 83.90