Imported CRC Offers to India Fall Further Amid Bleak Global Demand

Imported CRC offers to India have fallen against the backdrop of low demand and increasing inventories.

Imported CRC offers for December deliveries from China, Japan and Korea fell further by about 10-15%, as per SteelMint’s last CRC data assessment in the starting of October.

0.9 mm CRC offers are being assessed at USD 315/MT (-10) from China, USD 330/MT from Black Sea, USD 380/MT (-70) from Korea and USD 370-380/MT (-30) from Japan. All prices are on CNF India basis.

However as per market sources, there is no major buying interest in India even at these levels. The news of safeguard duty has started doing rounds in domestic CRC market, which is withholding CRC buyers for making fresh bookings.

Owing to sluggish demand worldwide, global steel players lowered down their HRC and CRC prices. As Indian government imposed safeguard duty on HRC in Sept’15, domestic buyers restricted their HRC bookings.

Post safeguard duty, offshore exporters focused on selling steel in the form CRC, pipes and tubes. CORSMA (Cold Rolled Steel Manufacturer Association) has registered itself as one of the affected party with DG Safeguards and is demanding safeguard duty on CRC.

Currently, domestic CRC is about USD 90/MT costlier than landed cost of imports. Domestic offers for 0.9 mm CRC are assessed at INR 38,000/MT (ex-Delhi), INR 37,500/MT (ex-Kolkata), INR 36,500/MT (ex-Mumbai) and INR 37,500/MT (ex-Chennai). All prices include excise of 12.5%.

2.5 mm HRC prices as on 27 Oct’15

Source: SteelMint Research