Official offers for local hot rolled coil (HRC) and cold rolled coil (CRC) in India have decreased during the past week, even though the market has continued to see a lull in demand as most buyers and sellers are on holiday.
Sources said that local HRC trade prices have been voiced at INR 48,500/mt ($589/mt) ex-Mumbai, down by INR 1,000/mt ($12/mt) over the past last week and down by INR 1,500/mt ($18/mt) week on week at INR 50,000/mt ($595/mt) ex-Chennai in the south. At the same time, according to sources, a number of Indian supplier have been offering their materials with additional discounts at INR 46,500-47,500/mt ($553-565/mt), compared to INR 47,500-48,000/mt ($565-571/mt) last week.
According to market insiders, the problem with Indian mills now is that their unsold stocks have not declined since the end of March 2024, and, even after September the stock levels are still extremely high, Besides, most market insiders believe that Indian mills will find it hard to raise their prices at least for the coming months given the continuing pressure from imports, fewer exports orders, while mills are keeping their capacity utilization at 90 percent.
In the meantime, local Indian CRC prices have decreased at a slower pace as compared to HRC, falling to INR 55,700-58,000/mt ($662-690/mt), versus 56,500-58,000/mt ($672-690/mt) last week. At the same time, the same situation has been seen in the CRC segment, with discounts on workable prices from traders heard at INR 54,000-55,000/mt ($642-654/mt), against 55,500/mt ($660/mt) last week.
$1 = INR 84.09