India’s billet export shipments saw a fall of 50% in Nov’20 to reach 250,000 t. China (~60,000 t), Nepal (~60,000t), and Indonesia (~40,000 t) remained the major destinations followed by Sri Lanka, UAE and Phillipines. RINL, JSPL and SAIL stood as the prominent exporters during the period under consideration.
The majority of the mills have curbed their export allocations on better price realizations in the domestic market, which resulted in a drop in the export shipments. Also mills have remained more focussed on producing finished steel rather than exporting semi-finished steel products which is another reason behind drop in export volumes.
However, Nepal based mills have remained active in booking billets and wire-rod from India. Limited allocation by Indian primary mills has given an edge to the secondary mills to conclude deals for Nepal. The induction grade-wire rod & billet export deals to Nepal by mid-sized mills have gained momentum since a few weeks.
SteelMint’s benchmark price assessment for BF grade billet (150*150mm) export increased to $435/t FoB India in Nov’20, up by $15 m-o-m.
Outlook – Billet export prices have strengthened further on the back of hike in scrap prices and rise in billet export offers from CIS nations.
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