Indian mills pose limited export offers
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Indian billet export market remained silent for the second consecutive week on the high bid-offer spread. However, for this week as well, we saw limited offerings.
During a conversation with SteelMint, a trade source mentioned- "the export offers from primary mills are limited and immensely high, seems they (mills) are unwillingly offering for the exports amid better price realizations in the domestic market. A primary private mill heard having offered at above $500/t, CFR for a Chinese destination."
Higher realizations in the domestic market have continued to keep mills away from booking export orders. Yesterdays, SteelMint's domestic billet index Exw-Raipur (IF route) settled at INR 35,200/t ($474/t), up by INR 2,450 ($33) w-o-w.
Global scrap prices and continuous rising futures kept the Indian billet export prices high: In the past one week, the imported scrap prices in Turkey jumped by $12-15 to reach $318/t, CFR as of 17th Nov'20, leading to an increase in the global billet prices. Scrap prices are likely to jump further by $10 in the next set of deals, sources reported.
The price hike was also strongly backed by continuous rising Chinese SHFE rebar futures, which reported an increase of RMB 64 ($10) this week and yesterday settled at RMB 3,907/t ($597/t).
On the other hand, the domestic billet prices in China were stable at RMB 3,580/t ($546/t) against last week. The high domestic prices will likely drive billet imports in China.
The Chinese bids are seen at $480-485/t, CFR for ASEAN billets and $460-465/t, CFR for Non-ASEAN billets.
SteelMint assessed Indian billet export offers (150*150mm, 3SP BF route, FoB east coast) to be at $440/t, up by $5-10 against last week.
