Due to the absence of competitors, coupled with improving domestic sentiment and costlier feedstocks, Indian mills have raised hot rolled coil export offers by a further $40-50/tonne on-week to $830-840/t fob India for March-April shipments. This follows the previous hike of $35-40/t implemented last week, Kallanish notes.

“The upward trend is mainly because of low competition in the global HRC market,” says a senior trader from a reputed trading firm. “This trend will continue for some time; however, things will normalise once China comes back from its New Year holidays.”

“Mills are not in a hurry to sell and hence are asking for higher prices; domestic prices in India are also improving … which is supporting export prices,” informs another source.

Domestic retail offers for E250 grade HRC have surged to INR 66,500/t ($868) ex-Mumbai, up by INR 1,500/t on-week. Offers for E350 are noted at INR 68,500-69,000/t ex-Mumbai and for galvanized plain sheet at INR 73,750/t ex-Mumbai.

“The domestic market is up; however, due to recent restocking, offers fell marginally by INR 500/t today,” a domestic HRC trader said on Wednesday. “But it is not going to impact the trend, as prices will go up again once stocks are rolled out into the market.”

Vietnam is closed due to its Tet holiday, meaning no offers have been heard during this week. “Vietnam is closed due to its national holidays; however, as per the current sentiment … Indian mills will target $840/t fob India level,” says a trader active in Vietnam.

Indian-origin 2mm+ SAE 1006 grade March-April delivery HRC offers to United Arab Emirates and neighbouring countries surged to $870-875/t cfr Jebel Ali on Wednesday. Earlier this week, an Indian mill sold 15,000 tonnes of HRC of multiple grades at $860-865/t cfr Jebel Ali. Owing to limited availability, a few mills reportedly offered HRC at $900/t cfr Jebel Ali for March shipment.

“Mills are exploiting options in the absence of key HRC suppliers,” says a senior HRC buyer based in UAE.

In Europe, a major Indian mill sold three lots of HRC at $910/t, $915/t and $920/t cfr Antwerp respectively, totalling around 10,000t. An Indian major was heard concluding a 15,000t deal at $850/t cfr Turkey earlier this week. Offers to Turkey are now heard at $870-880/t cfr Turkey.