According to reports from a number of market sources received today, Thursday, January 7, an Indian state-owned producer failed to close its tender for 30,000 mt of 150 mm billet yesterday which it had opened earlier this week. In earlier reports received yesterday, market sources had confirmed that the final price in the tender was $575/mt FOB, but this has been disproved by a number of traders in Asia, who have been invited to give bids in the tender today as well.
“Today, they're looking for $570-572/mt FOB levels,” a source told SteelOrbis. This is still above the highest bid received on Monday at $562/mt FOB. Some sources explained such ongoing negotiations as being due to “limited buyers in Asia looking for 150 mm billet now”.
The SteelOrbis reference price has been lowered by $5/mt from yesterday’s level to $570-575/mt FOB, but it is still higher than last week’s level of $560-570/mt FOB.