Local Indian hot rolled coil (HRC) trade prices have remained stable amid continuing discounted sales by distributors in a market lacking direction and the absence of any base price indication for the current month from producers, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Monday, April 1.
Sources said that local HRC trade prices have remained unchanged at INR 56,500/mt ($677/mt) ex-Mumbai and are also stable at INR 57,250/mt ($686/mt) ex-Chennai in the south. However, even the weak trading in the western and northern regional markets was heard at discounted prices of below INR 54,000/mt ($647/mt).
The sources said that trade circles have had no indication of how mills would strategize base prices for April amid the all-round demand weakness and slowdown in movement of stocks from mills to the market.
“The mood in the market is very poor. Every key driver is negative. We assess that the situation will persist through the first quarter of the new fiscal year. Not only manufacturing activity is slowing down, but there is also a lot of political uncertainty with the national elections to start in a couple of weeks. No market participant is willing to make a commitment,” a Mumbai-based distributor said.
“We are keeping a close watch on how mills will decide base prices for the current month. Our best case is that producers will maintain the base price. Increasing it will be a challenge under present conditions,” he added.
$1 = INR 83.40