Posted on 28 May 2025
Indian domestic hot and cold rolled coil prices fell by INR 250-500/tonne ($3-6/t) on-week, impacted by the early onset of monsoons in the western and southern regions of the country, Kallanish learns from sources.
This is the second consecutive week prices have dropped in May.
Sources indicate that domestic coil prices will be under pressure in the short-term. This is due to a combination of factors including the early arrival of monsoons, typically weak seasonal demand and expectations that mills will resume full production from June after annual maintenance shutdowns.
These factors are likely to increase supply while demand remains subdued, putting downward pressure on prices.
A pan-India HRC trader adds, “buying activity was not great [in recent weeks]. [But] now with monsoons in the south and west, demand will be down.”
As of Tuesday, Mumbai has seen almost no activity due to heavy rains, another trader adds.
Mumbai has witnessed its earliest monsoon onset in 75 years, accompanied by a record-breaking rainfall in May, the highest in 107 years.
This unusually early and intense rainfall is expected to impact private sector infrastructure and construction projects, contributing to an overall weaker seasonal demand in end-user sectors.
Adding to the slowdown, demand in the automotive sector also remains subdued while government infrastructure spending lower-than-expected. Together, these factors are putting further downward pressure on domestic coil prices, which are already facing headwinds from mills expected to resume full production in June.
Indian domestic HRC offers fell INR 250-500/t on-week to around INR 51,000-51,500/t ex-Mumbai domestic delivered basis, for IS2062/E250 BR grade.
Domestic CRC offers fell INR 250/t w-o-w to INR 57,000-58,000/t ex-Mumbai domestic delivered basis, for IS513 Grade O.
Domestic HR plate offers were down by INR 500-750/t w-o-w at INR 53,500-54,000/t ex-Mumbai delivered, for base E-250 or S235 equivalent grade.
Domestic galvanized coil offers are flat w-o-w at INR 58,500-59,500/t ex-Mumbai base price for 0.8mm and above thickness, regular commercial grades.
Colour-coated coil offers are also unchanged on-week at INR 69,000-70,000/t for base commercial grades.
On the import segment, no new import offers were heard this week.
Theoretical Chinese levels are at $452/t fob China, or $482/t cfr India, as of Tuesday.
Last week, a China deal was heard closed at around $490-491/t cfr Indian eastern ports (see Kallanish passim).
Among the free trade agreement (FTA) countries, last heard Korean initial offers were around $510-515/t cfr Chennai, SAE1006 grades, July/August shipment. India has an FTA with Japan, South Korea, ASEAN, Vietnam and others.
Source:Kallanish
