Ex-India billet prices have been kept stable over the past week even as trade activity has fallen silent in the face of issues like holidays and renewed geopolitical tensions and stray low bids rejected by sellers even while the local semis market has entered a sharp downtrend, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Wednesday, February 18.
Sources said that ex-India billet offer prices have been kept unchanged at $455-460/mt FOB with a few bids heard at levels of $430-440/mt FOB, but local mills have been unwilling to push sales even as the local market has turned very bearish.
According to the sources, most large mills, despite low bids and the slowdown of the local market, are not pushing sales overseas and instead have preferred to wait for a new direction in key destinations after Ramadan and the holiday in China.
In the local market, billet prices have suffered big setbacks attributed by a section of the market to “the expected correction after sustained robust gains over the past several weeks”. However, another section of market participants forecast a more deep-rooted bearish phase ahead as demand from large sectors like construction has been sporadic and retail buying would be impacted by the tightening of liquidity normally faced by sectors like real estate towards the close of the fiscal year.
Billet trade prices have recorded a big loss of INR 1,200/mt ($13/mt) to INR 43,300/mt ($477/mt) ex-Mumbai and are also down INR 1,200/mt ($13/mt) to INR 41,000/mt ($452/mt) ex-Raipur in the central regional market.
“The recent pressures on rebar are being reflected in losses suffered by semis. Merchant sales of semis by integrated mills are much lower in volumes over the past week. It is possible that the rebar market moved ahead too fast supported by tighter supplies rather than by demand growth. The market now is becoming normalized at rational levels,” an official at an Indian producer said.
$1 = INR 90.69
