SteelMint’s Indian HRC (SAE 1006) export index shot up this week by $60/t w-o-w and stands at a $696/t FoB basis. Global HRC price rally along with higher domestic realizations resulted in a sharp hike in export offers from India.
Recent deals concluded
- An Indian private mill booked around 20,000-30,000 t HRC to UAE at around $725-730/t CFR basis for end-Jan-early Feb shipments. The deal was concluded towards closing of last week hence not considered in our index calculations.
- Meanwhile, the same mill booked a parcel of around 10,000 t HRC for Europe at $775/t CFR basis for Feb shipments
Indian mills are not keen in offering HRC to the Vietnam market since they are more inclined to other markets on higher realizations, market sources have reported SteelMint.
Notably, Indian steel mills have announced a third consecutive price hike today by around INR 1000/t. Towards the beginning of the month, mills raised prices around INR 2,000/t and the second hike was made by around INR 1,500/t for Dec deliveries.
Rationale: Four indicative prices were considered as T2 inputs, with an average price of $696/t. The final price was an average of T2 inputs due to the absence of confirmed trades (T1). Since the deals concluded for Europe is not a part of SteelMint’s HRC export index methodology, hence they haven’t been included in calculations. The CFR prices were converted to FoB equivalent by deducting freight costs from the buyer/seller.
Global HRC market overview –
1. Chinese HRC export offer continues on an upward trajectory- Chinese steel producers have raised their HRC export offers further by $15-25/t w-o-w on the back of decent demand in both domestic and overseas markets. The current week assessed offer stands at $645-660/t FoB China, which was $630-635/t FoB basis a week back.
2. CIS HRC export offers spiked by $45/t on the week- CIS origin HRC export offers continued to remain bullish this week with another hike of $45/t w-o-w to $675-700/t FoB Black Sea. The previous week’s offer was at $635-655/t FoB basis. Limited inventories and higher demand from importers led to a continual spurt in export offers in the past few weeks
3.Imported HRC offers to Vietnam on a rise – Beginning this week, major exporting nations have steeply increased their offers to Vietnam by $40-50/t w-o-w. Chinese mills along with Russian producers are offering at $690-700/t CFR Vietnam. While Japanese and South Korean mills are offering at a premium at $720/t CFR basis.
4. Formosa announces a steep hike of $95-97/t m-o-m in HRC prices– The Vietnamese integrated steel manufacturer Formosa Ha Tinh announced a steep hike in its HRC prices. The prices have moved up by $95-97/t to $655-658/t CIF basis for HRC (skin pass), and $650-653/t CIF basis for HRC (non-skin pass) for Feb ’21 deliveries.
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