Chinese billet importers have in the past week remained interested in billet purchases ahead of the holiday on May 1-5. Prices have increased further, especially those for non-ASEAN origin as the two percent import tax has been lifted.
Early this week, two bookings for ex-Indonesia and ex-Vietnam billet were done at $680/mt CFR China. Subsequently, most negotiations have been at $690/mt CFR and some offers have already reached $700/mt CFR. No new sales from the ASEAN region to China have been heard later this week, but a number of sources said that the interest in purchases still exists. “China will continue to pay higher for ASEAN material due to the shorter voyage time,” one of the large traders said.
A deal for 50,000 mt of ex-Turkey billet is heard in the market to have been done at $675/mt CFR China, but confirmation from the seller’s side has not been received by the time of publication. “The price is very reasonable,” an Asian source said. Offers from the CIS have been reported at $680/mt CFR minimum and suppliers are in negotiations. Before the import tax was lifted, the tradable level for non-ASEAN billet was $660-665/mt CFR.
The latest billet tender for 30,000 mt of billet from Iran has been closed at $620/mt FOB, with the final sale destination to be China. This price has been assessed by market sources at $660/mt CFR or above.
On April 29, steel mills in Tangshan increased local billet prices by RMB 10/mt ($1.5/mt) compared to the previous day to RMB 4,990/mt ($771/mt) ex-works. Stockists’ average billet price level has added RMB 20/mt ($3/mt) to RMB 5,008/mt ($774/mt) ex-warehouse.
Rebar futures at the Shanghai Futures Exchange have reached RMB 5,452/mt ($842/mt), increasing by 1.94 percent compared to the previous trading day (April 28).
$1 = RMB 6.4715