The uptrend in the import billet market in China has continued and more deals for billet of different origins have been reported at prices which indicate an increase of $5-10/mt.
A deal for 20,000 mt of ex-ASEAN billet has been done at $640/mt CFR China compared to $630-635/mt CFR in the previous deals for billet of similar origin reported earlier this week, SteelOrbis has learned. A number of sources said that this latest contract was from Indonesia. The offered level from Vietnam has increased to $645-650/mt CFR China.
Apart from this, 40,000-50,000 mt of ex-Russia billet was sold to China at $620-625/mt CFR in the middle of this week. The contract followed a deal from the same supplier at $615/mt CFR concluded a little earlier.
There have been no new deals for ex-India billet heard in the Chinese market this week. But some sellers have already voiced offers as high as $650/mt CFR, expecting the import duty for non-ASEAN billet to be cut. There is “a strong rumor that China may change the import duty for all semis [from the current two percent for all non-ASEAN material] to zero,” an Asian trader said.
Higher import billet prices in China have been supported by the continuous rise in the local market. Steel mills in Tangshan have increased prices again on Thursday, April 1, to RMB 4,820/mt ($735/mt) ex-works, up by RMB 20/mt ($3/mt) from the previous day and up RMB 40/mt ($6/mt) from Monday, March 29.
$1 = RMB 6.5584