Local Indian cold rolled coil (CRC) prices have remained stable amid scarce trading and the prevailing negative mood with no reports of any long-term supply agreement between rerollers and large industrial buyers confirmed for the first quarter (April-June) so far.
Sources said that 0.9 mm benchmark CRC prices are stable at INR 61,200/mt ($734/mt) ex-Mumbai and are unchanged at INR 62,250/mt ($746/mt) ex-Chennai in the south with some distributors heard to be offering discounts ranging at around INR 2,000/mt ($24/mt) to push sales.
Several sources in trade and industry circles said that, while quarterly long-term supply contracts are generally concluded well ahead of the start of respective quarters, no re-roller has yet confirmed successful long-term supply contracts for April-June.
They said that this would be because of aggressive price negotiations between buyers and rerollers or industrial users, with at least some preferring not to conclude long-term supply agreements and instead to depend on spot purchases in a steadily declining market.
“The absence of any confirmed long-term supply agreement is an indication of further downside risks to prices and buyers are unwilling to get locked into a fixed commitment. There is too much supply when demand has remained muted,” a Mumbai-based distributor told SteelOrbis.
“Even though these are early days, we are not hearing much in trade channels on restocking for the current quarter. Most distributors have sufficient carry-over inventories from the past fiscal year,” he added.
$1 = INR 83.40