After the spate of hot rolled coil export bookings seen in prior weeks, the majority of Indian mills have now stopped indicating offers for export. Almost no offers were indicated this week, mainly because of exhausted export allocations for March and early-April shipment, and Ukraine-Russian tensions, various sources inform Kallanish.

HRC prices for the week are assessed at $870-880/tonne fob India, level on the most recent deals that took place last week.

“Currently, Indian mills are waiting for more clarity on steel supply, amid the Ukraine-Russia issue,” says a senior trader from a reputed trading firm. “India will benefit in business terms if there is a supply issue from the CIS region.”

Domestic retail offers for E250 grade HRC have dropped by INR 250/t ($3.35) on-week to INR 66,000-66,250/t ex-Mumbai. Offers for E350 and galvanized plain sheet are pegged at INR 68,500-69,000/t ex-Mumbai and INR 74,500-75,000/t ex-Mumbai, respectively.

Indian mills restrained themselves from offering HRC to Vietnam and other Southeast Asian nations. No firm offers were noted this week.

“None of the Indian mills are offering any coils this week … [Mills are] looking closely at the Russia-Ukraine matter,” informs a trader active in the Vietnam market.

Likewise, for United Arab Emirates and neighbouring countries, no firm offers were heard this week. Kallanish heard a rumour of an Indian mill offering pipemaking grade HRC to UAE at $890-900/t cfr Jebel Ali, but the mill has denied the offer.

“Indian HRC prices might come down on the pressure from China. Chinese offers for April are much lower than the Indian expected prices,” says a UAE-based source. “Especially now that the Winter Olympics are over, production restrictions by the Chinese government would be lifted and production and exports may go up.”

In Europe, an Indian mill concluded a pipemaking HRC deal at $965/t cfr Antwerp last week for April/May shipment.