Indian Billet Export Offers Reduce on Increased Offer Volumes

Indian billet export prices have corrected marginally from the end of last week, owing to the increased availability of the material from Indian manufacturers. This is a result of lack of trading activities from India in last two weeks (1-14th Oct). Firstly, China was closed from 1-8th Oct and in the second week; global prices were volatile, which kept trading activities low.

- Indian billet export prices have corrected by USD 5-10/MT as compared to last week, although the sharp decline is unexpected as Chinese steel exports continue to fall.

- BF grade billet offers are assessed at around USD 490-495/MT FOB India, which was USD 495-500/MT FOB last week for 150*150 mm for 5SP grade

- Induction grade billet heard to have sold at around USD 465-470/MT FOB west coast India for SE Asia. At these levels, realizations are still higher by INR 2500/MT (USD 38) for coast based induction furnaces as compared to the domestic market.

- Vizag steel's 45,000 MT tender is expiring on 17th Oct 2017. This tender was announced on 13th Oct 2017.

- SAIL is offering around 10,000-15,000 MT billet from its West Bengal plant. According to market participants, the company has price expectations of below USD 495/MT FOB.

- JSW Steel (India's largest private mill) heard to have kept their offers unchanged at around USD 500/MT FOB India. Although increased offer volumes from government owned mills may not support this price levels.

- India exported about 1.8 - 1.9 million tonnes of billet during Jan-Sep 2017. Nepal holds about 45% these exports.