Posted on 01 Sep 2022
After ArcelorMittal’s recent hot rolled coil price hike announcement in Europe, Indian mills are mulling increasing their offers, pointing to a bullish sentiment developing in the global market. The mills have reportedly withdrawn all their existing offers to the Gulf Cooperation Council, Vietnam and other markets, sources inform Kallanish.
Earlier this week, initial quotes for 2mm+ SAE 1006 Indian HRC were noted stable at $640-650/tonne cfr GCC, equating to $590-600/t fob India. Sources, however, say these offers might not be valid now, as all major mills are planning to revise quotes, considering the September-quarter is nearing its end and the hikes by other origins.
No deals were concluded for Indian-origin HRC in the GCC this week.
The latest offer to Vietnam by an Indian major was heard last week at $590-595/t cfr Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam. This deal was reportedly cancelled by the seller, following a very low bid by the buyer. At the same time last week, a deal for 10,000 tonnes of HRC was concluded by Chinese mills at $585/t cfr HCMC. Current bids are noted at $570-575/t cfr HCMC, unacceptable for Indian sellers.
Recently, Turkish mills have revised their HRC offers to $610-620/t fob Turkey, meaning Indian mills see the Turkish market as unviable for Indian HRC. Sources say Turkish buyers are bidding at $580-590/t cfr Turkey, which is equivalent to Indian fob offers now.
A majority of European buyers have resumed their operations and witnessed a hike in domestic HRC offers. The latest Indian offers were noted at $670-680/t cfr Italy and $690-700/t cfr Antwerp; however, mills are mulling to increase this on the back of the rise in domestic European offers.
“Indian mills are preparing to roll down new increased offers for September and we hear that all the previous offers have been taken back and are no longer valid,” says a trading source. “After the price hike by ArcelorMittal, Indian mills are racing to increase their offers and think the market is going up.”
“In reality, prices are not going up because of a sudden rise in the demand … It is because of the rise in the cost of energy, which is ultimately pressuring the production cost,” the source adds.
The ArcelorMittal price hike might to some extent support Indian mills’ price increase expectations, but the rejection by European buyers of boron-added HRC remains a problem. Indian HRC finds it hard to get “CE clearance” from European authorities and any hike might make it harder to place product in the EU.
Meanwhile, offers for E250- and E350-grade HRC plunged further to INR 55,500/t ($698.28) and INR 58,500/t ($736) ex-Mumbai, respectively. Offers for GI and colour-coated coil are noted at INR 65,000/t ex-Mumbai and INR 75,000/t ex-Mumbai.
Source:Kallanish
