Local Indian hot rolled coil (HRC) trade prices have edged lower amid thin trading activity owing to the year-end holidays and uncertainty over the base pricing strategy of mills for January and continued concerns over depressed demand, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Monday, January 1.
Sources said that HRC trade prices are down INR 300/mt ($4/mt) to INR 58,000/mt ($697/mt) ex-Mumbai and have lost INR 200/mt ($2/mt) to INR 58,550/mt ($704/mt) ex-Chennai in the south.
Most in trade circles have averred that there is no unanimity among mills on the base pricing to be adopted in January. They said that some of the larger mills are keen to maintain base prices in view of the fundamental weakness on the demand side and the pressures from imports, while smaller mills are looking to increase base prices at least by a small amount to offset the rise in input costs.
“Both buyers and sellers have been in a holiday mood. But that only partly explains the thin trading activity and weak prices. There is a fundamental issue of demand depression and rising imports. We are hearing that the landed price of imports is at least 6-12 percent lower than current trade-level prices,” a Mumbai-based distributor said.
“There are a lot of inventories in trade channels. We expect that, while official trade prices are set to move within a narrow range, discounted sales are likely to make a comeback amid stock liquidation,” he said.
$1 = INR 83.20