The sentiments in the Indian billet market have not been bright in early October as, though mills mostly kept local and export prices stable due to higher costs, overall slow demand in the main markets put pressure on suppliers, SteelOrbis understands.
The local Indian billet (grade IS2831- 100mm x 100 mm) market has remained muted during the past week, with prices remaining at INR 28,000/mt ($395/mt) ex-works, amid scarce trading activity and lack of support from negligible exports, traders said on Wednesday, October 9. “The export market is slackening along with prices in key markets. Indian billet export offers are largely at around $375/mt FOB, but, with no response received by any of the large producers. There is a lot of competing ex-CIS material flowing into the Southeast Asian markets, pulling down prices, and hence most Indian exporters have been unable to transact deals for significant volumes during the past week,” a source said.
According to the traders, scarce trading activity during the week has negated sentiments of tightening availability following the closure of a blast furnace of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), with the market anticipating that that shortage in supplies will not be as much as expected in earlier weeks.
Large pig iron producers like Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) have increased pig iron prices by INR 100-200/mt ($1.4-$2.8/mt) during the past week and this increase is expected to be passed on through the price hike of downstream production of billets in the coming week. “The semi-finished market is caught in a bind between the slight hardening of input costs and the softening of prices of value-added products like rebar. Integrated producers are adopting a fine balancing act in their pricing strategy,” an official at RINL said.