The US billet market has stayed relatively unchanged compared to price levels and purchasing activity a month ago.
The US billet market did not register any significant improvement or deterioration in the last month. With steady US billet demand and sufficient billet supply, domestic billet prices remain in the same level of $650 to $660/mt.
Re-rollers continue to make regular billet purchases and do not see the need of increasing order quantities for the time being. It is expected that the US billet market will stay more or less the same over next month.
According to the US Import Monitoring and Analysis System (SIMA), total billet imports into the US in February were 15,823 mt, reflecting an increase of 3,604 mt from January. The primary billet exporters to the US during the period were: Mexico, at 8,132 mt; Canada, 4,432 mt; and Brazil, at 3,026 mt. Other countries that exported smaller amounts of billet to the US include the United Kingdom and Japan.
The latest USITC data show that the total amount of US carbon billet exported in the month of January 2011 was 36,059 mt, which represent a decrease of 20,934 mt when compared to the figure in December 2010. The main countries that imported US carbon billet in January 2011 were: Peru, at 14,867 mt; Dominican Republic, at 10,232 mt; and Taiwan, at 9,953 mt. Canada and China also imported smaller amounts of billet from the US in the corresponding period.