As per trade sources, a major Indian steelmaker in western part of India decline HRC export offers for Europe by USD 15-20/MT for January shipments.
Company has concluded a deal of around 25,000 MT of HRC with Europe at around USD 550/MT CFR Europe basis for January shipments. Previously a major Indian steel maker has concluded a HRC export deal to Europe 15 days back which was heard to have concluded at USD 570/MT, CFR Europe.
European Commission (EC) has imposed tariff quotas on imports of 23 product categories for a period of 200 days from the entry into force of this regulation.These mean a 25% tariff will be levied on EU imports that exceed a global quota based on the average tonnage from 2015-2017.Thus Indian HRC export bookings have remained on the lower side due to imposition of quotas.
Lower sales in domestic market provides room for exports- Indian HRC prices are trading close to one year low as per the data maintained with SteelMint. Thus bearish market sentiments and weak buying interest pulls down HRC prices in domestic market which provides enough room to Indian steel makers to export HRC to overseas nations. Current trade reference prices for HRC (IS2062) 2.5 mm-8 mm is around INR 43,000-43,500/MT (ex-Mumbai) and INR 42,500-43,000/MT (ex-Delhi).
Indian flat steel exports in 9M CY18 – According to data maintained with SteelMint, India exported 4.17 MnT flat steel in CY18 (Jan-Sept’18). Out of this, HRC/Plates share was 2.36 MnT. Major destinations of Indian flat steel exports were – Italy, Belgium, Nepal, UAE and Vietnam. In CY17, India exported 9.41 MnT flat steel.
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