Around 25,000 mt of billet from Bangladesh’s GHP Ispat has been sold to China at $435/mt CFR or $407/mt FOB recently, with this being the first time a bulk cargo of billet will be exported from Bangladesh, as SteelOrbis reported yesterday. Though further cooperation with foreign billet buyers is possible, market sources are not expecting continued active export sales in the near future, SteelOrbis has learned from the market.
The price level in this deal has been assessed by market sources as very attractive. “No one can give such a price,” a trader said. But it has reflected the general level of bids in China for non-Southeast Asian billets. The fair price should be $432-435/mt CFR, according to one of large Chinese traders dealing with billet imports.
“I think the export sale from Bangladesh is an exception. Also, the size of the billet was 160 mm. It's a fairly uncommon size,” an Asian trader sold SteelOrbis. This material has been offered in the export market over the past month, but found the buyer only when China resumed bookings and the mill provided a discount of more than $10/mt.
Russian billet has been offered recently at $450-455/mt CFR to Southeast Asia and China, while ex-India billet has been offered at $445-450/mt CFR.
As SteelOrbis reported earlier, 20,000 mt of Vietnamese billet has been sold at $435-437/mt FOB or $445-447/mt CFR China this week. There has been a rumour about an additional sale of the same volume at $450/mt CFR, but it has not been confirmed by the time of publication.