The interest in imported billet persisted in China. As deal prices were in line with the offers to Southeast Asia and previous transactions it will support overall Asian billet market, sources believe. Major Indian mill has sold a cargo to China at $400/mt CFR. The tonnage was not disclosed by the time of publication, but market sources said it should be not less than 30,000 mt. As SteelOrbis reported earlier, the previous deal for ex-Oman material was signed at $400-405/mt CFR.
In late September two deals from India to China were concluded at around $405/mt CFR.
The gap between the average billet prices in the Chinese local market excluding VAT and the import quotations including 2.5 percent import tax and port fee was not very big. It is about $10/mt, according to SteelOrbis calculations. Some sources said that continued buying of billets by Chinese traders is connected with production restrictions in some areas.
Billet suppliers from Russia and India refrained from offers below $400/mt CFR to Southeast Asia as well, signaling about slight market improvement.