Ex-India billet prices have been kept stable over the past week amid divergent expectations, with sellers maintaining optimism over the pricing outlook and buyers still bidding low, and with domestic sales continuing to remain the focus of large Indian mills, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Thursday, August 14.
Ex-India billet prices have been stable in the range of $440-450/mt FOB. However, sellers, especially large domestic first-tier mills, were heard to be declining bids at the lower end of the range and anything less than $450/mt FOB was not being considered as sellers were buoyed by the revival in prices of long products and semis.
The sources said that an eastern India-based integrated mill is heard to have received bids at around $435-440/mt FOB against an offer for 30,000 mt of prime concast billet, but called off negotiations as it was firm on not concluding a contract below the $450/mt FOB mark.
Similarly, a government-run mill which had floated an export tender for 30,000 mt received a highest bid of $438/mt FOB, but no confirmation was available from the company regarding whether a deal was concluded, with market sources claiming that the tender had been “rolled over”, with the deadline for the submission of new bids set for August 20, the sources said.
“The positive is that prices are stabilizing. But this is yet to have an impact on sentiments among buyers, who are still exercising caution. With local trade remains robust despite a slight downward correction, local mills are focusing on pushing higher volumes for domestic sales and can well wait for overseas buyers to become reconciled to higher price levels. They do not feel the need to adjust ex-India offers in a rush,” an Indian source said.
Meanwhile in the local market, billet trading has showed signs of cooling down after several consecutive weeks of rapid upward movement. Billet trade prices have lost INR 800/mt ($9/mt) to INR 40,200/mt ($460/mt) ex-Mumbai and are down INR 500/mt ($6/mt) to INR 37,500/mt ($429/mt) ex-Raipur in the central region.
$1 = INR 87.44