After a certain period of slow buying in China, importers recently scaled up procurement of Indian HRC on improved sentiment. However, business activity on other outlets remains rather weak as buyers doubt the trend will sustain.
On July 10, most offer prices for Indian HRC (2 mm and above) for September shipment were coming at $420-435/t FOB. Only the lowest end of the range added $5/t over a week. However, deal prices rose significantly week-on-week. Expectations of strong demand after the rainy season supported steel tags and sentiment in China and resulted in numerous deals for Indian coils. Around 190,000-240,000 t of Indian HRC was sold in the market within $443-451/t CFR (freight estimated at $15-20/t) during the latest trading campaign. Thus, the deal price rose by around $10/t over a week. Besides, Indian mills have finally reached the targeted $450/t CFR which they set in late June.
Recovery of buying activity in China did not boost sales in Vietnam, though. “Indian mills have achieved $450/t CFR China. Vietnam is yet to show price improvement,” an Indian steelmaker told Metal Expert. A deal for 20,000 t of Indian HRC was concluded this week at $448/t CFR ($428/t FOB) while offers stayed at $425-430/t FOB ($445- 450/t CFR). Indian HRC was available in Vietnam at $420-430/t FOB ($440-450/t CFR) last week.
Offers to the Middle East and the EU picked up by $5/t over a week to $440/t CFR (around $420/t FOB) and $455-460/t CFR ($420-425/t FOB).
The mills are trying to achieve a $7-bit price increase in the domestic market, but buyers oppose it, local sources report. “Demand is dull because monsoon has started in India and will last tilt September. We have seen good demand in June as April and May were totally locked down. Now the demand is vanishing. The auto and white goods sectors are badly impacted,” an HRC buyer commented. Besides, customers doubt that buying activity will sustain in China. “Nobody knows what the real situation in China is. Bookings may go down next month and it is unclear when government investments will support demand there,” an Indian HRC maker noted.
Post time: Jul-16-2020