Indian HRC export prices hit six-month high

A major private steel mill recently booked around 30,000 t, Sep-loading HRC shipment for Vietnam at around $503/t CFR, traders told SteelMint.

Indian HRC export offers were last in the range of $ 505-510/t CFR in Feb'20.

Average export offers for Indian HRC cargoes were at $500-510/t this week compared with $485-490/t CFR basis in the previous week, for Aug-loading shipments.

Factors driving Indian HRC export offers:

1. Indian steel mills raise domestic HRC prices- Major Indian steel manufacturers have raised flat steel prices by INR 2000/t w.e.f from 1st Aug'20 amid improved demand in the domestic market. Mills had raised list prices of HRC and CRC twice last month, by around INR 500-750/t in early-July and by INR 500-1000/t from mid to end of Jul'20.

2. Limited allocation for exports- Indian steel mills have shifted their focus to domestic sales as realizations have increased with most planning to reduce the levels of exports in the near-term. A large steel manufacturer plans to reduce the export proportion of total sales to 15-20% by the end of December from around 55% at present.

India's finished steel exports reported a monthly decline of 11% at 1.375 mn t in Jul '20, according to JPC data.

3. Uptrend in global HRC offers- Chinese mills have raised HRC export offers by $15/t amid gains in domestic prices and uptrend in China steel futures. Other major exporting nations Japan, Korea, Russia and India have followed China in raising their HRC export offers.

Imported HRC (SAE 1006) offers to Vietnam

Source - SteelMint Research