After a brief upturn, ex-India billet prices have lapsed into a negative zone, and limited deals could only be concluded at lower levels even as sellers remained active in submitting offers, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Wednesday, May 15.
Officially, ex-India billet offers have been kept stable in the range of $520-530/mt FOB, but the tradable level has been reported in the range of $495-505/mt FOB, lower than last week’s reference prices of $510-515/mt FOB. Moreover, some bids have already dropped to $490/mt FOB.
According to the sources, a government mill which held an export tender for 30,000 mt with expiry on Tuesday, May 14, is heard to have received a highest bid of around $500/mt FOB or slightly below, significantly lower than expectations and no confirmation is available on whether a deal has been signed since then.
A private mill is reported to have concluded a deal for a small volume for delivery to the Middle East at $500-505/mt FOB, but this has not been confirmed and some traders believe that the final price could be at least $5-10/mt lower.
“The expected improvement in export prices has not materialized. I think the negative sentiments emerged following the failure of long product prices to recover in China, impacting demand for semis across Southeast Asia,” a source at an Indian seller said.
“Local billet sales are still looking good despite some volatility and a correction in price. Large mills can take the option of adjusting volumes of domestic sales and exports after assessing workable prices and margin realizations,” he said.
Meanwhile, in the local market, billet trade prices have showed signs of cooling off after recent surges over several weeks. Billet trade prices are down INR 1,700/mt ($20/mt) to INR 46,500/mt ($557/mt) ex-Mumbai and are down INR 900/mt ($11/mt) to INR 44,350/mt ($531/mt) ex-Raipur in the central region.
$1 = INR 83.50