Indian steel mills are aggressively booking HRC exports as the domestic sales remained mute owing to lockdown announced by Indian government to prevent the spread of COVID-19. HRC booked for export are reported to be of grade – SAE 1006 and SS400.
Mills have booked HRC mainly to Vietnam and China this week. Market sources shared with SteelMint that around 2,00,000 MT HRC has been booked in last 7-10 days back for June shipments.
–4 vessels of around 80,000 MT of HRC has been booked to Vietnam at USD 390-400/MT CFR basis
— 2 vessels of around 80,000 MT of HRC has been booked to Vietnam this week at USD 399-405/MT CFR basis
— A private steel mill had also booked 40,000 MT HRC for export to China at around USD 370-375/MT FoB (equivalent to USD 385-390/MT CFR basis). Prior this South Korean mill has concluded a deal for around 100,000 MT HRC to China and the deal price was noted at USD 385/MT CFR China basis for May shipments.
Chinese steelmakers have shifted their interest to imports and are actively booking HRC, slabs and billets from India and Russia at cheaper prices since global steel prices fell sharply as the lock-down announced to curb the increasing intensity COVID-19.
Indian HRC export volumes in CY19- As per data maintained with SteelMint, Indian HRC export volumes stood at 5.42 MnT in CY19 majorly to Vietnam with 43.37% share followed by Italy at 14.44 % and UAE at 11.24%.
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