Ex-India billet prices have been corrected down slightly by large mills over the past week, but have still failed to trigger any buying interest in face of oversupply in most Asian destinations and cheaper alternatives, even though sellers from China were fewer ahead of their National Day holiday, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Wednesday, October 1.
Sources said that most large mills which only recently started submitting offers were forced to drop price ideas cautiously by around $10/mt to the range of $420-430/mt FOB, but most Asian markets were reported to be oversupplied and trade activity was limited in the face of stiff ex-Russia competition.
According to the sources, at least two mills have reported that their previous offers submitted at $435/mt FOB faced stiff resistance in the Middle East with select buyers seeking additional discounts and deals failing to work out.
The sources said that, while local mills have continued to push volumes overseas after the local market entered a new sharp down-cycle, discounts being sought in most market are unviable and sellers have preferred to wait for any possible improvement in ex-India prices.
“We are submitting offers but the market is very challenging with many sellers. But we will not push for discounted sales as offers are already low. Exports for now will remain a tool for inventory control as local sales are also sluggish,” an official at an Indian mill said.
Meanwhile, the recent stability seen in local billet merchant trade fell through with prices suffering setbacks, with secondary mills lowering off-take of semis as rolling mills’ outputs are being curtailed since finished long product demand remains muted. Billet trade prices have lost INR 800/mt ($9/mt) to INR 38,800/mt($438/mt) ex-Mumbai and are down INR 850/mt ($10/mt) to INR 36,150/mt ($408/mt) ex-Raipur in the central region.
$1 = INR 88.66