Chinese plates’ exporters cut their export prices in order to clear inventory ahead of the country’s October 1-7 National Day holiday, forcing POSCO-Indonesia also to further cut their offers.
POSCO-Indonesia has cut down its MS plates offers by USD 10-15/MT following sluggish demand in Indian market. Current offers from POSCO-Indonesia for MS plates of base size 16-20 mm are being assessed in the range of USD 335-330/MT, CNF India basis.
Competition from cheaper Chinese exports is also one of the reasons owing to which POSCO has cut down its export prices.
Chinese plate exporters have also lowered their export offers by USD 5/MT W-o-W, for inventory clearance prior to the one week long National Day holiday.
Chinese offers for commercial (S250 equivalent to A36) quality MS plate of size 8-150 mm from China is being assessed at USD 300/MT, CNF India basis for November shipments.
Earlier, Anang Steel Company Ltd, a China based plate mill, had sold commercial quality plates at USD 305/MT for October delivery and high tensile plates (S355) at around USD 330-335/MT CFR India, confirmed trade sources.
Price Parity
The Chinese exports to India attract import duty of 12.5%, whereas there is no import duty on products from Indonesia due to preferential trade agreement signed by Indian government with ASEAN countries.
Thus, there is price parity between imported plate offers to India from China and POSCO, Indonesia if comparison is made between landed cost of imports from both the countries.
No Safeguard Duty on MS Plates
Safeguard duty which was recently announced by Indian government on hot rolled products is not imposed on plate imports. Thus, Indian buyers are more keen in cheaper POSCO and Chinese export offers.
Current domestic offers for MS plates (base size 5-10 mm) IS2062 grade is being assessed at INR 28,000/MT (ex- factory) basis.
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