Large Indian mills continued to offer billet volumes for overseas sales in the face of a slowdown in merchant sales volumes in the domestic market. Interest in exports persisted even though bids from the international market declined, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Wednesday, May 27.
It is learnt from trade circles that an export tender for 60,000 mt floated by a government mill and expired yesterday (May 26, 2026) received the highest bid in the range of $460-470/mt FOB, lower than the $470-475/mt FOB bids received in the previous tender a week earlier. It could not be confirmed whether the seller would accept the current bid and execute a sales contract.
The same government seller floated another export tender for 30,000 mt of SAE billet, which is scheduled to close today (May 27, 2026).
Similarly, an eastern India-based private mill also reported a spot offer of 30,000 mt and reportedly received a bid of $470/mt FOB, against $478/mt FOB for an earlier sale. However, no information was available regarding whether a sales contract had been finalized.
“Declining sales and prices in the local market are prompting mills to be more aggressive in exploring all overseas sales opportunities. There is an oversupply of semis, and any opportunity to liquidate stocks is being leveraged,” a source in India said.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-India billet has been settled at $460-475/mt FOB, which is down by $10-13/mt over the week. The higher end of the range corresponds to mills’ targets, while the lower end represents lower bids this week.
The fall in trade volumes of semis was reflected in billet trade prices losing INR 900/mt ($9/mt) to INR 42,300/mt ($442/mt) ex-Mumbai and falling by INR 500/mt ($5/mt) to INR 38,600/mt ($403/mt) ex-Raipur in the central regional market.
