India Steel Market Watch
December 9: HRC offers remained unchanged on the back of sluggish sales in most parts of the country, industry sources said.
Low liquidity in the hands of traders also impacted prices, sources added.
Prices remained bound between Rs 28,000-29,800 per ton.
Sources said offers from China fell $2 per ton to around $272 per ton CFR Mumbai following the imposition of the 20% safeguard duty on hot rolled coils some time back.
The duty was imposed on hot-rolled flat products of non-alloy and other alloy steels, and 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.
India’s imports of non-alloy flat steel rose 42.2% year-on-year to 4.62 million tons in April-October, 2015-16, from 3.25 million tons in the same period last year, provisional steel ministry data showed.
Imports of HR coils rose 103.4% to 2.15 million tons during the period, while imports of plates rose 48.1% to 621,700 tons during April-October, 2015.
GP/GC sheets and coil imports rose 30.4% to 329,800 tons, while CR coil/sheet imports rose 12.5% to 1.08 million tons during the period.
$1=Rs 66.74