Indian importers are heard to have booked HRC for imports from South Korea towards the end of the last week for March shipments SteelMint learned from market participants.
As per information received from trade sources, Indian importers have booked around 15,000-20,000 MT HRC (base grade, 2mm) from a major South Korean steel manufacturer at USD 525/MT CFR India, Nhava Sheva port for March shipments.
Also as per the calculation, the landed cost of HRC imports to India is hovering around INR 38,700-39,000/MT (ex-Mumbai). However, in contrast to this, the Indian HRC trade prices have increased to around INR 39,000-40,000/MT (ex-Mumbai). Prices mentioned above are basic, and extra GST @ 18% is applicable.
Thus, Indian importers have resumed booking HRC from FTA nations in anticipation of a further price hike in the domestic HRC prices in the upcoming month owing to a short supply in the domestic market.
Prior to this, in Dec’19, SteelMint reported that around 25,000 MT of HRC (base grade along with thinner size of 1.6-2mm) was booked for import from South Korean major steel manufacturer at around USD 480/MT CFR India for Jan-end-Feb shipments.
Indian HRC/Plate imports in CY’19- As per data maintained with SteelMint Indian HRC/plates imports stood at 2.31 MnT in (Jan-Dec) CY’19, which was around 2.41 MnT in CY’18. Major steel importing nations included South Korea with 65% of the share, Japan at 18% of share followed by Indonesia at 7% and Ukraine at 3% in CY’19.
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