Imported HRC Offers to India Surge on Stability in Chinese Market

HRC offers to India from China, Japan and CIS countries have increased in the range of USD 5-20/MT against last week.

Current offers for 2.5 mm HRC (SS400) are assessed at USD 300/MT (+5) from China, USD 310/MT (+20) from CIS region, USD 300/MT (+5) from Japan and USD 330/MT (0) from Korea. All prices are on CNF India basis.

Chinese steel market has been showing signs of recovery since the starting of Jan’16. Domestic HRC prices in China are stable with minor fluctuations and its effect can also be seen in its HRC export offers.

As per trade sources, China’s domestic HRC prices have moved up today against last week and is heard to be at RMB 2,000-2,200/MT (ex-Shanghai); up by RMB 20-30/MT (USD 3-5/MT). This hike is majorly owing to increase in China’s domestic billet prices as well as decisions taken by two Chinese steel majors, Heibi Iron & Steel and Anshan Iron & Steel to raise prices of their flat products for February.

In-line with Chinese export prices, other countries like CIS and Japan have also increased their export offers. However, if the market sources are to be believed, Chinese mills are unlikely to increase their export offers further in coming days owing to uncertainty about future trend in the market.

Chinese mills are unwilling to lower their export offers as the export prices already do not complement their domestic prices. While, increasing prices is also improbable owing to stiff competition from Japan and Russia.

Source: SteelMint Research