First Russian-origin hot rolled steel coil shipment arrives in Mumbai
Jul 27, 2022
Moscow [Russia], July 27 : A 24,000-tonne cargo shipment of Russian-origin hot rolled steel coil arrived in Mumbai on Saturday on the Akson Serin bulk carrier, a media report said.
It was the first cargo of Russian-origin hot rolled coil (HRC) since Western sanctions were imposed on Russia for invading Ukraine, Kallanish reported.
Severstal, a Russian steel industry company, might be the HRC supplier and the deal is settled either in Emirati dirhams or China's yuan, the UK-based independent news portal reported citing sources.
However, Severstal did not comment.
"This is a loss-making deal [for the Indian buyer] as I am sure the contract price for this deal would have been higher than current Indian domestic quotes. We believe some 80,000 tonnes of HRC are also in transit from Russia for August and September deliveries," an Indian trading source said.
In early August, India might receive another HRC vessel from South Korea and the price might be USD 670 per tonne.
Several Indian steelmakers increased their HRC prices in order to exploit the resulting gap left by the disruption in CIS supply after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the publication said.
In May, the mills raised their domestic and export offers which caused panic in the domestic market and eventually resulted in the implementation of export duties.
As per Kallanish's assessments, Indian-origin structural grade 2mm+ HRC is at USD 600-610 per tonne freight on board on July 20, and the market remains down for Indian HRC exports.
E250 grade HRC in the domestic market is at INR 59,000-59,500 per tonne, it added.
A recent decision taken by the Reserve Bank of India allows import payment settlement in rupees and as a result, it has alleviated obstacles for the Russian and Iranian ferrous suppliers to India.
According to source, Russia and Iran try to export more steel to India at cheaper prices resulting in a reverse of India's net steel exporter status.
