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Very good overview of the weekly steel market.
Updates during the day from our global editorial team.
Updates during the day from our global editorial team.
Indian hot rolled coil exporters have dropped offers to bring momentum to overseas deliveries. Indian quotes are nevertheless still higher than other major suppliers, mainly in anticipation that buyers will pay a premium for Indian material due to shorter lead times, sources tell Kallanish.
The drop in export offers is also attributed to the recent fall in domestic demand and falling sentiment in the retail market.
This week, initial quotes for boron-added 2mm+ structural grade HRC plunged $20-30/tonne on-week to $585-590/t cfr Gulf Cooperation Council, equating to $560-565/t fob India for December shipment. Sources inform of receiving offers from Indian mills at $585/t cfr levels and through traders at $590/t cfr GCC. Meanwhile, bids were heard at $560-565/t cfr.
“India has dropped its offers, but it is still $20-25/t costlier than Chinese material,” informs a source. “India is slow in reacting to the market sentiment and revises its price only after the other origins finish their order books … It seems they [India] enter the competition on the back of their only advantage of shorter lead times for deliveries.”
“The future looks elusive,” a senior industry source answered when asked about the HRC market outlook. “After this fall, Indian mills are not willing to proactively drop their quotes any further and buyers are hesitant to bid on the upper side,” he adds.
Amid last week’s booking hustle and bustle in Turkey, an Indian major reportedly offered structural grade HRC at $590/t cfr Turkey; however, the deal was not concluded. Sentiment is bearish in the region and importers are eyeing to procure cargoes with very short lead times.
Vietnam continues to remain elusive for Indian HRC; most Indian mills believe selling to Ho Chi Minh City is not viable for them, meaning no offers were heard there.
Indian structural grade HRC offers to Europe are noted at $615-620/t cfr, but buyers are seen procuring material from other origins at below €600/t ($593.35) cfr Europe. Offers for boron-added DC-01 grade cold rolled coil are meanwhile heard at $720-730/t cfr Antwerp.
Meanwhile, in the domestic Indian market, offers for E250-grade HRC plunged to INR 56,000/t ($676.76) ex-Mumbai. Quotes for E350 and GI are heard at INR 58,500-59,000/t and INR 64,500/t ex-Mumbai, respectively.
Indian companies are expected to push to increase overseas deliveries to fill order books. Mills are facing reluctance from domestic buyers to book HRC at higher prices, owing to which there is an influx of Chinese, Japanese and Russian offers into India.
Chinese offers for base HRC are noted at $540-545/t cfr Mumbai, and Russian offers at $580/t cfr Mumbai. Japanese mills reduced their quotes to $570-575/t cfr Mumbai following a deal conclusion for 20,000 tonnes of HRC at $580/t at end-October.
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© Kallanish 2022. All rights reserved.