This week, market insiders have reported higher volumes of HRC imports arriving in India from Asia, including Japan and South Korea, which limit the recovery potential of local prices.
Specifically, according to sources, around 50,000 mt of ex-Japan SAE1006 HRC have been sold to India at $520/mt CFR this week, while most offers for ex-Japan HRC have been voiced at $525-530/mt CFR. Besides, another deal for around 30,000 mt of ex-South Korea HRC was done at $530-535/mt CFR last week.
Meanwhile, no deals have been reported for ex-China HRC, mainly due to uncompetitive offers. “If you take ex-China offers at $480/mt FOB, add $30/mt freight, then the price to India will be not less than $510/mt CFR, which means almost $550/mt CFR including duty, so no chance,” a market insider told SteelOrbis, adding, “This would also translate into a landed price in the range of around INR 48,535/mt.”
In the meantime, it was reported that many traders and manufacturers have been trying to import steel with minor alterations in steel grades to bypass Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) requirements. In particular, last week India's Ministry of Steel announced that it had detected attempts to import cheap steel under false names and grades to bypass the quality regulations set by the BIS.
As for local prices, this week HRC trade prices in India are at INR 48,700/mt ($577/mt) ex-Mumbai and are also unchanged at INR 50,500/mt ($599/mt) ex-Chennai in the south.