Posted on 12 Jan 2023
Following the resumption of European operations after the winter holidays, Indian mills have optimistically hiked their hot rolled coil offers this week. They are confident of achieving higher numbers after receiving multiple enquiries from European end users and traders, sources tell Kallanish.
In light of low-priced offers being floated by competitors, higher Indian quotes may not be in tune with European buyers’ expectations. However, Indian mills remain optimistic due to robust local demand supported by national projects, and the infrastructure and automotive industries, and do not appear interested in reducing offers to pursue exports.
Moreover, mills will not chase selling big-quantity deals in Europe but will focus on selling small quantities at high prices to end users on the back of their downstream steel supply commitments.
This week, Indian-origin S235 JR-grade HRC offers are noted at around $725-730/tonne cfr Antwerp, netting back to around $670-675/t fob India. A few sources also confirmed hearing offers from mills at as high as $750/t cfr Antwerp on Wednesday evening.
"There are multiple reasons for these price hikes by India, including low allocation for exports in February and March, better realisations in the Indian domestic market, and low availability of wider HRC, i.e., above 1,500mm width, which the European customers demand," says a source.
"This attitude of Indian mills [hiking HRC prices] will impact India’s position in the global market over the long term and, as a result of this, India might lose its position in exports," the source adds.
Meanwhile, Indian mills raised their offers for DC-01 cold rolled coil to $800-810/t cfr Antwerp, after concluding small quantities last week at $770-775/t cfr Antwerp.
All major Indian mills have withdrawn their offers from the Gulf Cooperation Council. Last week, HRC offers were increased to $670-675/t cfr GCC following a deal conclusion at $645/t cfr Sohar.
"As European buyers have resumed their bookings, Indian mills will try to offer their limited available allocations to Europe as they expect to get better realisations in Europe over the Middle East and Vietnam," a trading source informs.
Amid the influx of cheaper Chinese material in Vietnam and Turkey, Indian mills have not rolled out any offers to these two destinations.
In the domestic retail market, offers for E250 grade HRC remained stable on-week at INR 56,500-57,000/t ($691.54) ex-Mumbai. Offers to OEMs are meanwhile noted at INR 54,000-55,000/t delivered, while quotes for E350 and GP have been received at INR 59,500/t and INR 65,000/t ex-Mumbai, respectively.
A tender for 20,000t of base grade HRC floated by an Indian state-run mill got cancelled after reportedly receiving lower bids than expected. According to sources, the firm received bids at $600-605/t fob India, while the company’s expectation was to sell at $630-635/t fob India.
Source:Kallanish
