Indian mills roll back HRC export prices to stay competitive in international market

European buyers have rejected Indian hot rolled coil export offers even while mills have sharply rolled back their prices.

Indian HRC export price assessments were down by about $50 per tonne in the current week, while Indian mills failed to book HRC export shipments.

The price of steel hot-rolled coil (commodity) export, fob main port India was assessed by Fastmarkets on April 14 at $955-1,140 per tonne, a drop of $50 per tonne over last week’s HRC export price assessment of $1,005-1,190 per tonne fob.

“European buyers are not even bidding for Indian HRC, even if mills ask them [European buyers] for a bid price, they don’t show any interest,” a market participant said.

According to a second participant, Indian HRC is no longer competitive in European and middle-Eastern markets due to cheaper HRC on offer from destinations like China and Kazakhstan.

Lack of exports, however, is yet to impact Indian domestic HRC prices.

The price of steel HRC, domestic ex-warehouse India was assessed by Fastmarkets on Friday, 14 April at 76,000-79,500 rupees per tonne, unchanged since last week.

Fastmarket’s assessment for steel HRC, import, cfr main port India fell by $25-40 per tonne to $925-930 per tonne on Thursday, April 14, compared with last week’s HRC import price assessment of $950-970 per tonne fob.

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