China’s Ministry of Finance (MOF) announced revisions of export tax rates on Friday, December 15, stating that the export tax on billets will be reduced from fifteen percent to ten percent as of January 1, 2018. Having maintained their high levels for some time now, even reaching $560/mt FOB in the second week of December, Chinese billet export prices have indicated sharp declines since the announcement in question, moving down to $510-520/mt FOB.
This downtrend recorded in Chinese billet export quotations has caused some concern in the international markets where billet purchases have been postponed due to the Christmas and New Year holidays.
In the last week of the current year, billet demand in Turkey has been at low levels, while Turkish billet producers have kept their domestic billet prices unchanged week on week despite the rises seen in import scrap quotations in Turkey. As a result, domestic billet prices in Turkey have remained in the range of $540-550/mt ex-works. Meanwhile, buyers prefer to monitor the market and are postponing their billet purchases until next year.
Additionally, ex-CIS billet offers to Turkey have remained stable during the past week at $525-535/mt CFR. Turkish buyers’ demand for ex-CIS billet is still at low levels.