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India: HRC export market remains slow amid competitive Chinese offers

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BigMint Bureau

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14 Jan 2025, 18:13 IST

India: HRC export market remains slow amid competitive Chinese offers

India's offers to Europe, ME hold firm w-o-w

Chinese offers to ME, Vietnam drop

India's hot-rolled coil (HRC) export offers to Europe and the Middle East held steady w-o-w, as they struggled to compete with aggressive Chinese pricing. Meanwhile, Chinese HRC export offers declined across major markets, including the Middle East and Vietnam, due to mounting pricing pressures and softening demand.

Market updates

1. Chinese HRC export offers to ME drop w-o-w: China's HRC export offers to the Middle East decreased further by $10-15/t w-o-w to $485-490/t CFR UAE from $500-505/t last week, leading to pricing pressure for other exporters. A deal of around 10,000-12,000 tonnes (t) was heard concluded at similar price levels for February 2025 shipments.

Meanwhile, Indian mills are not actively offering to the ME. The last heard indicative offers were around $530-535/t CFR UAE.

2. India's HRC exports to EU remain slow: India's HRC exports to Europe remained slow w-o-w. Indian mills are not actively offering HRC for exports to the EU. The last heard indicative offers were hovering around $590-595/t CFR Antwerp ($540-545/t FOB east coast India) for S275, 3mm material.

"The EU HRC market remains sluggish with limited activity. Market participants are cautious due to the ongoing anti-dumping investigation," informed an EU-based source.

Furthermore, domestic market sentiments in the EU also remained slow as buyers were on the sidelines, wary of committing to purchases due to prevailing economic uncertainty and geopolitical risks.

3. China's offers to Vietnam fall w-o-w: China's export offers for HRC (SAE1006) to Vietnam fell by $15/t w-o-w to $475-480/t CFR Ho Chi Minh City from $490-495/t CFR last week, due to weakening demand in Vietnam's steel market.

However, Chinese HRC futures edged up by RMB 32/t ($4/t) w-o-w to RMB 3,386/t ($462/t) against RMB 3,354/t ($458/t) last week. Moreover, on d-o-d basis the same increased by RMB 42/t ($6/t) d-o-d from RMB 3,344/t ($456/t) a day ago.

Outlook

Indian HRC export prices are poised to stabilise or soften slightly, as the market grapples with weakening demand and increasing competition from Chinese suppliers. With Chinese prices dropping further due to decreased demand and aggressive pricing strategies, the global HRC market may witness a shift in trade dynamics.