Ex-India billet prices were kept unchanged by large mills, but despite slight improvement in buying interest across select Southeast Asian countries, local mills stayed away from exports in face of challenging competition particularly with China, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Wednesday.
While government mills, usually the more active among exporters of semis, were absent from the market, private mills were heard quoting at unchanged levels of $480-490/mt FOB but were unable to conclude deals as buyers in Asia were asking for $460-465/mt FOB. As a result, the reference price has remained at $460-480/mt FOB, including the latest offers and bids.
The sources said that, even as local prices of billets have continued to seek lower levels, larger integrated mills have not been interested in selling overseas because deals could only be successful at discounts.
Meanwhile, in the local market, billet trade prices have lost INR 200/mt ($2/mt) to INR 41,500/mt ($493/mt) ex-Mumbai and are unchanged at INR 39,400/mt ($468/mt) ex-Raipur, while the lowest level was seen at INR 38,800/mt ($461/mt) ex-Durgapur in the east.
$1 = INR 84.10
