India’s billet export trade activity continues to remain inactive as an export tender by a government-run mill ended with a higher bid below expectations and with year-end considerations coming into play for buyers in the Asian region, SteelOrbis has learned from trade and industry circles.
The ex-India billet reference price has lost $5/mt on average over the past week to $485-505/mt FOB. Though most sellers were pushed up higher to $500-520/mt FOB, most bids reported in the market were below this level in the range of $480-490/mt FOB prompting sellers to pull back offers.
A government-run mill held an export tender for 30,000 mt and, though a contract was not concluded, sources in the company said that the highest bid received was $485/mt FOB, much below the targeted $520/mt FOB.
An Odisha-based steel mill had floated a spot offer for 15,000 mt of prime concast billet, but a transaction could not be completed with sources claiming “the offer-bid gap was too wide for acceptance.”
“Indian sellers have been looking at consolidation of prices at higher levels to close deals, but several developments across key destinations have aborted such a price trend. For one, the rapid spread of Covid-19 again in China has dragged down the market with buyers from the region quoting bids as low as $470/mt CFR, which is not justified. At the same time, buyers in other regions are unwilling to build inventories of imports ahead of the holidays,” an official with Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) said.
“India mills are unlikely to bring down the target price below $520/mt FOB and are preferring to pull back offers and wait for a new trend to emerge next month,” he said.
Meanwhile, in the local market, billet prices consolidated earlier gains, moving up by INR 200/mt ($2/mt) to INR 46,200/mt ($559/mt) ex-Mumbai and up INR 400/mt ($4/mt) to INR 44,000/mt ($532/mt) ex-Raipur in the central region.
$1 = INR 82.70
