The Indian HRC export index increased marginally by $4/tonne (t) this week, as mills continued to offer at around the same range as in the overseas markets. SteelMint’s Indian HRC export index stands at $877/t FOB east coast as against $873/t FOB a week back.
A couple of deals were reported towards the end of the last week.
1. A private mill booked about 10,000 t HRC (SAE 1006) for export to the Middle East at around $910-915/t CFR basis, for end-Nov-early Dec’21 delivery.
2. A small parcel of HRC was also booked for export to Malaysia at $930-935/t CFR basis, for end-Nov-early Dec’21 delivery.
“Mills are mulling a further increase in prices for the Nov’21 deliveries in the domestic market. This is likely to keep the export offers at the higher end,” a credible source said.
Indicative offers to Vietnam and the UAE continued to hover at around $910-920/t CFR basis.
Rationale: Seven indicative prices were considered as T2 inputs with the export deal to the Middle East as T1. The final price was an average of T1 and T2 inputs which stood at $877/t FOB. The CFR prices were converted to FOB equivalent by deducting freight costs from the buyer/seller.
Global HRC market overview:
1. Chinese HRC export offers down $30/t w-o-w: HRC export offers from China dipped to $940-960/t FOB China due to volatility in the domestic market, which discouraged traders to quote fresh offers. Also, demand for Chinese origin cargoes continued to remain mute on competitive offers from Russia, India and other regions. Last week, export offers stood at $970-990/t FOB basis.
2. Imported HRC offers to Vietnam stable: Demand for imported HRC in Vietnam continued to remain weak, even as market activities picked up gradually with the easing of Covid-related restrictions in the beginning of Oct’21.
Russian mills continued to quote around $880/t CFR Vietnam basis. However, no offers were heard from China, Japan and South Korea.
3. Indicative offers at higher side for Nepal: Indicative offers from Indian mills to Nepal were heard around $875-885/t ex-plant (translating to $895-905/t CFR Raxaul border). “There are limited allocations from the mills for Nepal. Also, the shortage in thinner gauge HRCs is impacting the SKU mix,” said a credible Nepal based source. “Mills are likely to keep their offers up owing to higher prices in the Indian domestic market,” he added.
4. China’s HRC offers to Pakistan decline: Chinese HRC offers are now hovering at $940-950/t CFR Pakistan as against $960/t CFR basis towards the last week-end. However, there were no offers heard from Kazakhstan and South Korea this week. There were some unconfirmed reports of 10,000 t of CIS-origin HRC being booked by Pakistan mills. However, it could not be confirmed till the time of publishing this report.
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