Though today, October 8, the Chinese market has resumed work with only cautiously optimistic sentiments and overall outlook is mixed for now, major billet exporters have already voiced target prices at $500/mt FOB for the next round of sales.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-China billet has remained at $480-490/mt FOB, but there is mainly an absence of firm offers from mills. “We can consider billet at $500-505/mt FOB [for December shipment], but this is nominal. There are no firm offers,” a trader said. Average local billet prices in China have increased today by RMB 47/mt ($6.6/mt) to RMB 3,335/mt ($472/mt) ex-warehouse.
The Indonesian mill has announced that “today our price idea is $500/mt FOB [for January shipment],” after a bid was confirmed at $481/mt FOB before the National Day holiday in China.
A Vietnamese mill has been keeping its offer for November shipment billet at $500/mt FOB too.
