- Indian mills focus on domestic market
- Baosteel, FHS, CSC raise offers
Indian HRC export offers for Southeast Asia and the Middle East (ME) continued to remain on hold for fourth consecutive week. Indian mills are focused towards domestic market amid limited export allocations and higher domestic realisation. In addition, market demand in European Union (EU) is slow with limited trade activities in the region. While, competitive Chinese prices from China to Vietnam and Middle East, kept Indian HRC export offers out in these regions.
“The prevailing export prices are not attractive to Indian mills and the availability is also not in abundance,” informed a reliable source.
Market updates:
1. HRC import offers to ME fall w-o-w: Chinese HRC offers (grades: S235 and S275) fell by around $5-10/t w-o-w to $575-580/t CFR UAE, against $580-585/t CFR UAE a week ago, this decline is attributed to lower bids from buyers. Additionally, a deal of around 20,000 tonnes (t) from China was heard concluded at $565-570/t CFR UAE. Furthermore, another deal of similar quantity was heard concluded at $560-565/t CFR UAE. However, there are no competing import offers from other origins like Japan and India.
2. Vietnam’s import offers range-bound w-o-w: Imported offers of China-origin HRC (SAE1006) into Vietnam remained range-bound w-o-w at $555-565/t CFR Vietnam. Vietnamese steel major, Formosa Ha Tinh, has increased hot rolled coil (HRC) prices by $15/tonne (t) m-o-m for July 2024 shipments. Subsequent to the revision, prices of HRCs (SAE1006, skin pass) stand at around $600-610/t CIF Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). Meanwhile, non-skin pass coils are at around $595-605/t CIF, sources informed BigMint.
3. Indian mills continue to hold HRC offers to EU: Indian steel mills continued to hold their HRC export offers (S275, 3mm) to EU this week as well. European hot-rolled coil prices remained largely stable this week amid limited end-user demand, because of which trading activity remained muted. Distributors, unsure about price sustainability, limited restocking to need base buying and avoided building up inventory at high levels.
Outlook
Overall, a significant increase in Indian HRC exports in the near future appears unlikely as Indian mills will prioritise the domestic market due to higher realisation. However, the price hike in domestic market have not fully sustained due to which the possibility of future opportunities exists depending on potential adjustments in mill strategies.
Moreover, global market sentiments remain positive with major mills like Baosteel, FHS, CSC raising steel offers for June 2024 sales. China’s Baosteel increased HRC prices by $7/t m-o-m. While, Taiwan’s CSC hiked steel prices by $9/t for June sales.