Indian billet exports have improved over the past week with sellers pushing up prices far above the $600/mt FOB mark, to offset the increasingly negative domestic market conditions amid widening lockdowns, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Wednesday, May 5.
Ex-India prices for BOF billet have reached $625-630/mt FOB up by $30/mt from a week ago, leveraging improved buying sentiments across Asian markets. Some private mills managed to sell some volumes at $620-630/mt FOB or slightly below. As a result, the SteelOrbis reference price has been settled at $620-630/mt FOB this week, up from $595-600/mt FOB last week.
The rebound in Chinese buying has come at the most appropriate time for Indian sellers who were facing extremely negative local market conditions as the pandemic spins out of control, with all major cities going into lockdown and secondary mills sharply reducing merchant purchases of billets for conversion.
The export mood received a strong boost following reports that an export tender of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) for 30,000 mt received a winning bid of $628/mt FOB, a historical high for any export of semis for the steel mill.
Sources also said that an Odisha-based producer reported a trade to a trading firm at a price of around $610-620/mt FOB, while securing a second contract to Asia for 30,000 mt at $620-630/mt FOB.
Another Jharkhand-based steel mill was able to sell also at $620-630/mt FOB and a modest volume of 15,000 mt to the Middle East at around $610-620/mt FOB, sources said.
The lower prices at $610-620/mt FOB are not available in the market any more, SteelOrbis has learned.
Meanwhile, secondary steel mills unsure of maintaining plant operation levels were virtually out of the local merchant trade in billets, with their prices edging down INR 500/mt ($7/mt) to INR 34,300-35,100/mt ($464-474/mt) ex-works, excluding 18 percent GST.
$1 = INR 73.90