US billet prices have come down along with domestic shredded scrap prices in May.
US shredded scrap prices came down by $10 to $20/lt in the beginning of May, and billet prices have followed suit by dropping approximately $20/mt to the current level of $650 to $660/mt.
For the moment, billet supply exceeds demand. There is plentiful billet availability in the market, however in order to maintain inventories at manageable levels re-rollers are not interested in buying significant tonnage.
According to the US Import Monitoring and Analysis System (SIMA), total billet imports into the US in April were 22,958 mt, reflecting an increase of 10,921 mt from March. The primary billet exporters to the US during April were Mexico, at 17,955 mt and Canada, at 4,649 mt. The only other source of notable billet tonnage into the US during the period came from the United Kingdom, at 355 mt.
On the other hand, the latest USITC data show that the total amount of US carbon billet exported in the month of March was 55,497 mt, which represents an increase of 24,112 mt compared to February. The primary countries that imported US carbon billet in March were: Taiwan, at 52,747 mt; Canda, at 1,334 mt; and Dominican Republic, at 1,023 mt. Venezuela also imported 387 mt of billet from the US in the corresponding period.