Nepal: Mills remain active in booking billets from India

About 3,000 tonnes (t) of Indian induction furnace billet export deals to Nepal were reported yesterday. Demand from Nepal improved significantly yesterday with the hope of further strengthening of prices, SteelMint notes.

The average price for the above-mentioned deals was assessed at around $730-735/t exw eastern India, equivalent to $755-760/t CPT Nepal, via road and rake delivery. Today, however, fresh offers have increased by $15/t to around $745-750/t exw Durgapur.

Meanwhile, no fresh deals were reported for BF billet due to the disparity between bids and offers. Fresh offers are assessed at $775-780/t CPT Nepal.

Rebar

Steel demand in Nepal remained moderate as the majority of government projects exhibited slow progress; also demand from the end-users was disturbed due to liquidity crunch along with higher rebar offers, sources in Kathmandu informed.

Current rebar prices in Nepal are hovering around NPR 108,000/t ($880/t), stable w-o-w. Prices are on ex-works basis, excluding VAT.

It is expected that steel prices in Nepal are likely to fluctuate considering price volatility in India in the context of subdued demand.

Wire rods

Demand for wire rods remained sluggish in Nepal, while current offers for commercial grade (produced through the mid-sized plants) are hovering around $835-840/t CPT Nepal, while BF-route wire rod (SAE 1008) offers are at $870/t CPT Nepal.

Sponge iron enquiries slow down

Enquiries for sponge iron have remained limited and fresh offers are at $540/t CPT Nepal for FeM 80%, lumps 70%, fines 30% material.

Power cuts since the last few weeks have affected Indian sponge iron export demand in Nepal.