Indian HRC Makers Offer Discount to Compete Import

Indian Hot Rolled manufacturers have started giving discount on bulk quantity purchasing in order to compete cheap imports from Korea, Japan and China. Despite Indian government has increased import duty on flat steel, imported materials are still coming at a decent pace.

Current trading price for 2.5 mm HRC is assessed at INR 33,500-34,000/MT (including Excise) ex-Mumbai, which was INR 34,000-34,500/MT (including Excise) in the month of June.

“We received additional discount of INR 500-750/MT for June bookings. There is tough competition from imported material, which is cheaper by at least INR 1,000/MT. Indian HRC prices have corrected by INR 1,000-1,500/MT in Q1”, said a SAIL’s dealer based in Hyderabad.

Indian steelmakers are hopeful that BIS norms will help control import to a certain extent. But, low demand in domestic market clubbed with lower export is certainly putting pressure on domestic prices.

Imported offers from China are USD 350/MT CIF India and USD 385-395/MT from Korea and Japan.

Trade-wise

1. Chinese HRC offers assessed at USD 350/MT, CIF India for SS 400 grade
2. Hyundai (Korea) offers for HRC are USD 390/MT, CIF India
3. Japanese mills are offering HRC at USD 385-390/MT, CIF India
4. Russian mills HRC prices assessed at USD 365/MT CIF India
5. Indian HRC export offers are USD 400/MT, FoB
6. China offering CRC at USD 420/MT, CIF India
7. CRC offers from Korea assessed at USD 490/MT and Japan at USD 480/MT, CIF India

Domestic 2.5 mm HRC Prices as on 7 July’15

 Prices inclusive of excise duty, CST/VAT extra 
Source: SteelMint Research