Ex-India billet prices have been maintained at lower levels amid inactive trade conditions, with buyers unwilling to conclude deals anticipating further declines, while local medium-sized mills have not been pushing overseas sales despite the slide in domestic sales prices, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Wednesday, April 30.
Only small IF-based mills are heard to have been submitting offers in the range of $410-420/mt FOB, net of discount, but no deals have been confirmed during the past week.
According to the sources, there was “market-level chatter” over two deals to the Middle East for an aggregate of 30,000 mt, but since no details are available from either buyer, seller or trade circles, sections of the market dismissed it as just “rumours” and “speculative”.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-India billet stands at $410-420/mt FOB, down by $5/mt over the past week.
Meanwhile, in the local market, the uptrend in the market for semis has been reversed in reaction to finished long products entering a new down-cycle and the easing of the recent short-lived tightening of supplies from large mills. Billet trade prices have slumped INR 1,100/mt ($13/mt) to INR 43,200/mt (507/mt) ex-Mumbai and have lost INR 850/mt ($10/mt) to INR 40,500/mt ($475/mt) ex-Raipur in the central region.
“Ex-India billet sales activity remains in the doldrums. Sellers’ expectations for the market to have bottomed out has been belied for the past several weeks and most mills have exited exports. Discounted offers are being submitted by smaller mills, but they are not in a rush to conclude deals,” a source from India said.
$1 = INR 85.20
