The billet imports to China have resumed after the holidays. But the deals have been limited so far, as suppliers have become more aggressive, while buyers have been cautious, not increasing bids so rapidly as early in September, for instance.
A contract for 20,000 mt of ex-Indonesia 3sp billet was done at $710/mt CFR just after the holidays, though early in the week the expectations were that China will come back with bids hardly above $695/mt CFR. Stronger rebar futures, the positive trend in the spot rebar market and expectations of further crude steel production restrictions in many provinces by the end of the year have supported moods in the market.
A Chinese trader has also purchased a lot of 30,000 mt of ex-India billet for future sales at $630/mt FOB, which translates to $715/mt CFR.
In addition, three lots of ex-Iran billet have been traded by traders at $635-640/mt FOB with China as the target market.
New offers for ex-Vietnam, ex-Indonesia and ex-India billets are at $720-725/mt CFR China, which has been assessed as high for most buyers now. Market sources said that the bids have been at $710-715/mt CFR at the moment and slightly below for the cargoes with the longer lead times.
The reference price level for import billet in China has increased by $5-10/mt from $705/mt CFR late last week.
At the same time, local billet price in Tangshan has remained at RMB 5,230/mt ($808/mt), translating to $715/mt, excluding 13 percent VAT.
$1 = RMB 6.4749