Hot briquetted iron (HBI) import offers to the US from Venezuela have increased through November as raw materials prices have rallied.
HBI producers in Venezuela are being heard with offers of $230-240/mt FOB Venezuelan port. Offers for the week ended November 11 were heard at $215-225/mt FOB. These were up approximately $35/mt from the end of October when prices were heard at $180-200/mt FOB.
Despite recent softening in the Chinese futures and spot markets along with the decline in iron ore prices which all influence the international steel market, several sources close to SteelOrbis report a belief that raw materials prices will remain at approximately the same levels or increase at a slower pace, but will not fall drastically. At present, they expect the Chinese domestic market to remain strong and the futures market to trend optimistic into 2017 despite daily fluxes.
US traders' initial bids for Venezuelan HBI have been heard moving up as well and are presently at $210-220/mt FOB from $205-215/mt FOB last week. With the new Veostalpine HBI plant in Corpus Christi, Texas which officially launched in late October along with additional supply in the Venezuelan market as Comsigua restarted a facility in late September, a source close to SteelOrbis commented, “Increased offers were expected due to the overall global trend and raw material cost increases, but due to the present competition and uncertainty in the market, prices will probably meet in between at $220-230/mt FOB.”