Several integrated steel mills in India have been lowering their rebar production in view of the disappointing demand revival from the construction sector and so they have been carrying higher-than-normal billet inventories and have been attempting to push volumes overseas.
Overall export offers and the latest sales have been at $370-380/mt FOB. Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) put on offer for 18,900 mt of billet for export through the tending route. A southern India-based steel mill concluded an export deal for 25,000 mt of billet for November delivery to Vietnam at around $375-380/mt FOB, market sources said. SAIL concluded spot deals for billet exports to the Middle East at around $370-375/mt FOB earlier in October. Also, an eastern India-based steel mill concluded a deal for end-of-November shipment to China at $375/mt FOB.
Local Indian billet prices (grade IS2831 - 100 mm x 100 mm) have lost momentum during the past week, moving down by INR 300/mt ($4/mt) to INR 28,300/mt ($400/mt) ex-works.
“Indian exporters can be expected to continue their export thrust for two reasons. Firstly, most large steel mills are maintaining billet production but are lowering conversion into rebar, leading to higher stocks of the former. At the same time, higher shipment volumes can be sustained as China increases imports of semis, largely billets,” an official at Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited said. “Indian billets are getting very competitive in China. However, the competition with ex-Iran billets is high because they are also finding demand in China,” he added.
$1= INR 70.80