Indian steel producer RINL has opened a tender to trade 20,000 mt of billets in the export market, as the company announced on December 4. Taking into account the uptrend in the Southeast Asian billet market, sources expect the material will be traded at a higher price.
The producer is offering two lots of 10,000 mt each of billet. The material in the tender has uncommon sizes for the international market: one lot is for 90 mm billet and the other is for 65 mm. Bids will be collected by the producer until December 10 and the deadline for shipment is January 10, 2020, SteelOrbis has learned.
Taking into account the recent deals for ex-CIS billet in Asia at $435-445/mt CFR, the tradeable value for ex-India billet should be about $435/mt CFR, which is equivalent to $410/mt FOB, sources said. However, “the mill will target $400-405/mt FOB as these are fairly uncommon sizes,” an Asian trader said.
The latest sales of ex-India billet were to China at $425/mt CFR, as SteelOrbis reported earlier. But FOB prices have been below $400/mt as the trader sold the volumes purchased earlier when prices from the Indian mill were lower.
