The situation in the import billet market in China is expected to improve next week after prices have fallen below $600/mt CFR this week. The recent increase in local prices and futures gains have supported the outlook.
The lowest import billet price level has been heard at around $595/mt CFR in a sale for Indonesian 3SP billet to China in the middle of this week, compared to trades for billet of the same origin at as high as $620-622/mt CFR a week ago.
There have been no reports of confirmed sales from Vietnam, but negotiations have been heard at $595-600/mt CFR during the week. On Friday, an offer from the Vietnamese producer was heard at $605/mt CFR China and this has been considered as the workable level for now after local prices rebounded today, Friday, March 12.
Mills in Tangshan have increased prices for billet by RMB 140/mt ($21.6/mt) on March 12 to RMB 4,430/mt ($683/mt) ex-works. Average billet spot prices in China have gained RMB 123/mt ($19/mt) on Friday to RMB 4,548/mt ($701/mt) ex-warehouse, according to SteelOrbis’ information. Local prices include 13 percent VAT.
As a result, the workable price for non-ASEAN billet, which is subject to two percent import duty in China, is $590-595/mt CFR, while it was down to $580-585/mt CFR in the middle of this week.
$1 = RMB 6.4845