Ex-India hot dip galvanized (HDG) coil prices have declined amid inactive market conditions in the past week, with neither sellers nor buyers, particularly in Europe, willing to commit trades amid rising offers of multiple origins and amid falling prices, SteelOrbis has learned from trade and industry circles.
Ex-India Z120 HDG prices are in the range of $860-920/mt FOB, down from $880-950/mt FOB last week. But mills have been in no mood to adjust prices more to push deals, facing rising competition from several Asian producers vying for a share in the EU market where demand is reported to be ebbing.
At least two officials at local private integrated mills said that, with the local finished steel market under stress from demand and prices, sellers have not been in a good position to be aggressive in overseas sales at a time when buyers in Europe and the MENA region have several sourcing options.
They said that distributors in Europe and the Middle East are sufficiently stocked and are unwilling to commit import trades unless offers are available at “deep discounts”.
“Most overseas markets are saturated with cheaper offers led by China amid the weakening of demand. Indian mills are already facing pricing pressures on domestic sales,” a source from an Indian mill said.
“Exports sales will remain volatile and challenging in the coming quarters. We are constantly assessing the changing situations, to be able to make adjustments to our own product portfolio based on demand changes and appropriate export allocations. Management of inventories for domestic and export sales will need to be efficiently aligned. We think the focus is changing from overseas sales as seen since January to local sales now,” the source said.