US billet prices registered a decrease of approximately $40/mt this month and moved closer to the international billet price level.
The US billet market is slow and billet prices have followed the downward pricing trend of domestic shredded scrap and dropped about $40/mt to $520 to $530/mt in July. As the US finished products market remains sluggish and billet buyers had already bought the necessary tonnages two or three months ago, current domestic billet demand is lukewarm. Moreover, there is sufficient billet supply in the market, therefore, leading billet prices to soften. If the US scrap prices continue to go down next month, domestic billet prices will lower as well.
Internationally, billet prices show sign of improvement due to the increasing billet demand from the Far East. Currently, Turkish producers are offering billet at $500 to $510/mt FOB on actual weight basis. Prices have increased approximately $50/mt from a month ago.
According to the US Import Monitoring and Analysis System (SIMA), total billet imports into the US in the first half of July (as of July 13, 2010) was 5,012 mt, while total billet imports into the US in June was 21,108 mt. The main countries that exported billet to the US during the period were: Mexico, at 3,118 mt; and Canada, at 1,150 mt. The United Kingdom and India also exported a smaller amount of billet to the US during the corresponding period.
The latest USITC data show that the total amount of US carbon billet exported in the month of May 2010 was 25,415 mt, which represent a decrease of 63,776 mt when compared to the figure in April. The main countries that imported US carbon billet in May were: Dominican Republic, at 21,177 mt; Taiwan, at 1,901 mt; and Peru, at 1,570 mt. Other countries that imported smaller amounts of US carbon billet include Canada and Mexico.