The sharp increase in tradable billet prices in Asia last week has enabled an Indian exporter to close its latest tender at a much higher price level.
The state-owned Indian producer RINL finalized its auction for 30,000 mt of billet early this week, with the highest bid reaching $628/mt FOB, SteelOrbis has learned from market sources. This price level is $29.5/mt above the price in the previous tender by the same mill, which was closed a week earlier at $598.5/mt FOB.
The trader who won the tender will try to sell this lot to China, most market sources believe. The final price may be $675/mt CFR and above, if taking into account the freight and the traders’ margin, sources have said.
Late last week, the workable level for import billet in the Philippines and China reached $675-685/mt CFR, as reported earlier.
In the Philippines, a contract for a small volume of ex-Japan billet was done at $675/mt CFR, while after that 20,000 mt of ex-S. Korea billet was traded at $685/mt CFR to the Philippines last week.
In China, a Turkish seller sold billet at $675/mt CFR, while some tonnage from the ASEAN region changed hands at $685/mt CFR China, which, however, is still not confirmed. Most market sources believe that prices will improve further by the end of this week or early next week, when China comes back from its holiday. “$675/mt CFR is a good price in today's market. Vietnamese IF billet offers are already above $700/mt CFR [in China],” a trader commented.