South Korean mills resume HRC offers to India as domestic prices rise

South Korean mills resume offering Hot Rolled Coils (HRC) to Indian market after quite a while as import prices cross over anti-dumping duty levels.

Country’s major steelmaker, Hyundai Steel is offering HRC at $490/t CFR India compared to a $475/t CFR basis offer last week.

Earlier in the month of Feb’20 SteelMint reported that, a major South Korean steelmaker booked 10,000t of HRC (SAE 1006 re rolling grade) at $500-503/t CFR India at Kandla port for April shipments.

Limited HRC import deals heard from South Korea since Mar’20 with low domestic demand and prices making imports unviable.

Japan and South Korea’s HRC exports to India are not subject to a basic tariff of 12.5% but anti-dumping duty applies on shipments from these countries. However Importers have to pay the difference between the landed price and anti-dumping duty.

Anti-dumping duty for South Korean cargoes is around $489/t CFR basis. Notably for Hyundai steel the anti-dumping duty is around $478/t CFR basis as per notification by Indian ministry.

Thus,as per calculation ,landed cost of import is hovering at INR 38,600/t (ex-Mumbai).On the other hand, domestic HRC price increased by around INR 500-1000/t to INR 37,500-38,250/t (ex-Mumbai) this week. Increase in domestic prices could make imported steel viable in the near-term.

There are, however, concerns among importers that the government may introduce safeguard duty or a border adjustment tax (BAT) on flat steel imports soon to protect domestic steel.