India Steel Market Watch
November 18: HRC offers remained unchanged on low sales in most parts of the country, industry sources said.
Low liquidity levels during the festive season also impacted prices, sources added.
Trade sources said offers from China fell $2 per ton to around $288 per ton CFR Mumbai following the imposition of the 20% safeguard duty on hot rolled coils.
The duty was imposed with immediate effect on hot-rolled flat products of non-alloy and other alloy steels, in coils of width of 600 mm or more.
Reacting to the price hike, a sizeable section of steel users spoke against the imposition of a 20% anti-dumping duty on finished steel products to counter the 20% provisional safeguard duty on hot rolled coils, a key raw material for value-added steel products like seamless tubes and pipes, engineering and fabrication as well as the auto sector.
Sources said Chinese and Russian exporters have factored in the 20% provisional safeguard duty in their offers.
Some sources said the safeguard duty would help steel mills increase capacity utilisation levels rather than raise prices too much.
In April-September, 2015-16, India’s imports of non-alloy flat steel rose 40.40% year-on-year to 3.86 million tons from 2.75 million tons in the same period last year, provisional steel ministry data showed.
Imports of HR coils rose 119.6% to 1.85 million tons during the period, while imports of plates rose 34.7% to 535,500 tons during April-September, 2015.
GP/GC sheets and coil imports rose 29.2% to 270,600 tons, while CR coil/sheet imports rose 2.2% to 849,500 tons during the period.
$1=Rs 66.04