India: HRC export offers drop w-o-w amid weak demand

• Indian mills keep away from ME market
• China’s offers to ME drop post Eid holidays

Indian hot rolled coil (HRC) (S275) export offers to the European Union (EU) dropped w-o-w amid subdued demand in the region.

Meanwhile, Chinese HRC offers to the Middle East (ME) dipped w-o-w, following the Eid festival, as trade activity remained bearish in the region. Indian mills are not actively making offers to the Middle East. This is because Chinese suppliers quoted more competitive offers, and Indian mills are currently seeing higher profits in their domestic market.

1.Indian offers to EU decline w-o-w: Indian HRC export offers to EU declined by $15/tonne (t) w-o-w to $620-625/t CFR Antwerp ($570-575/t FOB eastern Indian port) as compared to $630-635/t CFR last week. Despite the price reduction, demand remained slow. European HRC prices were under pressure due to weak domestic demand and a seasonal slowdown due to some national holidays.

2.Chinese HRC offers to ME drop w-o-w: China’s HRC export offers to the ME dropped by $5/t w-o-w to $480-485/t CFR UAE as compared to $485/t CFR in the previous week. Demand in ME remained slow following the Eid al-Adha holidays. Furthermore, “demand has softened slightly, influenced by the summer season and the recent increase in US steel import duties”, as per a BigMint source.

China’s HRC futures on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) inched up by RMB 36/t ($5/t) w-o-w to RMB 3,084/t ($429/t) as compared to RMB 3,048/t ($424/t) a week ago. On a d-o-d basis, the same marginally dropped by RMB 5/t ($1/t) against RMB 3,089 ($430/t) on 9 June 2025.

Outlook

The global HRC market is likely to remain under pressure in the near term. This is attributed to subdued demand and the ongoing seasonal slowdown. Additionally, market participants were in a festive mood, which kept trade activity limited.