Despite lower prices, ex-India hot rolled coil (HRC) trade has remained in a limbo amid negligible demand in the main trade destinations, including Asia, the Middle East and Europe and the sharper fall in prices of competitors, SteelOrbis has learned from trade and industry circles.
Sources said that ex-India HRC prices were lowered by an average of $20/mt by local mills to the range of $545-570/mt FOB, but were still insufficient to drive trade of any significant volumes.
According to sources, aggressive offers from China resulted in bids averaging in some destinations as Vietnam at as low as $530/mt on FOB basis and hence no confirmed deals were heard over the past week. Meanwhile, buyers from Europe were absent owing to the Easter holidays over the weekend, while ex-India HRC offers to southern Europe have been reported at around $625-630/mt CFR, which translates to around $570-575/mt FOB, down by around $20/mt week on week.
Meanwhile, several trade sources said that they heard of a deal for 5,000 mt for delivery to the UAE at $565/mt FOB. However, this deal has not been confirmed by either buyers or the western India-based integrated mill, the seller, by the time of publication, while most ex-India HRC offers in the Middle East have been estimated at $600/mt CFR, against $600-610/mt CFR last week.
“The export market remains a non-starter for most mills. In most cases, the FOB offer price is almost the same as the CFR price being sought by buyers. This is unviable for any local mill,” an official at an eastern India-based private mill told SteelOrbis.
“We have not heard of any mill finalizing export allocations for the new quarter. We do not think any producer will be making such allocations aggressively. Distinct and separate export allocations do not make sense in present conditions,” he added.