Indian Mill Concludes HRC Export Deal to Europe

According to market sources report to SteelMint, a major Indian steel maker has concluded a HRC export deal to Europe recently. The deal was heard to have concluded at USD 570/MT, CFR Europe. Although the quantity of the deal could not be confirmed but it is expected to be in small parcels as in general not too bulk quantity deals are concluded to Europe.

Indian steel mills used to actively offer HRC for export to European nations but owing to safeguard investigations going on, Indian mills had shifted their interest to SE Asian nations and Middle East in last few months. In Jul'18, European Commission has imposed tariff quotas on imports of 23 product categories for a period of 200 days from the entry into force of this regulation. These mean a 25% tariff will be levied on EU imports that exceed a global quota based on the average tonnage from 2015-2017.

Indian HRC export bookings have remained on the lower side in last one month amid lower bids from Vietnam based mills and continuous decline in Chinese HRC export offers in line with fall in domestic steel prices.

Indian mills have cut HRC prices for domestic market by about INR 1,500/MT for December amid cost-effective imports, falling automobile sales and liquidity issues. Presently HRC prices in domestic market is assessed around INR 44,000/MT (USD 618) (in Mumbai, GST extra).

Indian flat steel exports in CY18- According to data maintained with SteelMint, India exported 4.17 MnT flat steel in CY18 (till Sept'18). Out of this, HRC/Plates share was 2.36 MnT. Major destinations of Indian flat steel exports were - Italy, Belgium, Nepal, UAE and Vietnam. In CY17, India exported 9.41 MnT flat steel.