Ex-India hot dip galvanized (HDG) coil prices have been pushed up by large local mills in cue with some occasional deals to northern Europe being reported at higher prices, even though some producers have been sceptic about the export market consolidating on any uptrend considering the continued weakness of manufacturing in key destinations like Germany and Italy, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Friday, December 20.
Sources said that large mills have increased their offers for HDG (Z120) to around $730-740/mt FOB compared to quotes in the range of $700-720/mt FOB a week ago. Besides, a number of sources also reported ex-India offers for galvanized coils at as high as $750/mt FOB.
According to the market insiders, deals reported by a few large mills broke the prolonged silent trade conditions and the fact that these deals were successful at higher levels improved the mood and expectations despite the pessimism of a section of producers that this is unlikely to emerge as a new trend. Though granular details of each trade were not readily available from the sellers, it has been reliably learned that aggregate trade for 12,000 mt was concluded over the past week for deliveries to Rotterdam and Antwerp at around $730-750/mt FOB, which market participants said could translate to $785-800/mt CFR. Furthermore, offers for ex-India HDG Z100-120 have been voiced in southern Europe at $785/mt CFR, or around $725-730/mt FOB, but are considered as “too high to be acceptable” by most customers in the south.
“Reports of deals working out in northern Europe are a big positive coming after a long time. That the higher prices worked out is even better. But we are not celebrating, nor will it have an immediate impact while deciding on export allocations for the last quarter (January-March) of fiscal 2024-25,” an official at a private mill, which did not confirm any recent export trade, said.
“We cannot read too much into what happens in a week. We are also hearing that the EU is working on new tariffs which could translate into lower quotas for imports from India. Hence, local mills will not be increasing export allocations unless there is further clarity on this,” he added.
In the meantime, offers for ex-India cold rolled coils (CRC) have been voiced at around $615-620/mt FOB, which translates to around $670/mt CFR southern Europe, standing in line with offers from other Asian suppliers in the region.