Local Indian hot rolled coil (HRC) trade prices have continued to decline due to low industrial demand and pressures from imports, with most of the trading activity over the past week reported at discounts, and with both distributors and mills focusing on stock liquidation ahead of the close of the fiscal year, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Monday, March 4.
Sources said that trade HRC prices are down INR 300/mt ($4/mt) to INR 56,500/mt ($681/mt) ex-Mumbai and have also lost INR 300/mt ($4/mt) to INR 57,250/mt ($691/mt) ex-Chennai in the south. But trades continue to be reported in the range of INR 54,000-55,000/mt ($651-663/mt) across regions depending on volumes booked.
According to sources, import bookings during the last week of February were estimated in trade circles at 40,000 mt and, though lower than in earlier weeks, this still put pressure on local prices considering the extremely low trade activity in the market.
“Both trade channels and mills are aggressively resorting to discounted sales to liquidate stocks and improve cash on books at the year-end. Even though import bookings have showed signs of slowing, there is still too much supply in the market,” a Mumbai-based distributor told SteelOrbis.
“Overall prices of flats are retreating the fastest and over a prolonged period among all steel product categories. With industrial output growth at a 15-month low, we assess prices will weaken further over the next few weeks,” he added.
$1 = INR 82.90