- Recent Indian billet export tenders attract decent participation
- Vessel freight rates rise further
- Chinese domestic billet prices soar to a 12-year high creating room for imports
Indian billet export prices continue rising. In recently hosted export tenders floated for billets (16,200 t, 125*125mm) and blooms (16,200 t, 200*280mm), a state-owned mill of India managed to achieve a price level of $555/t, FoB. According to SteelMint’s sources, the bloom cargo is likely to be shipped to a SE Asian destination.
On the other hand, another state-owned mill in its tender, floated for 60,000t blooms is heard to have received bids in the range of $535-540/t, FoB India.
However, yesterday (23 Mar ’21), the mill has floated another export tender of 30,000 t blooms (150*150mm, 3SP/4SP) for spot sale. The tender floated is against 100% advance payment terms for the end-Apr’21 shipments.
We witnessed a disparity in the prices of the tenders floated by the two state-owned mills. During conversations with the mill, which booked the billet and bloom export tenders, we learned that the mill is getting decent realizations in Nepal and the domestic market as well. Hence, the mill was not open for much negotiations.
On the other hand, the other state-owned mill’s tender was against 100% advance payment terms, which likely fetches $5-10 lesser price levels than the regular tenders floated against L/C.
SteelMint’s bi-weekly assessment for Indian billets (150*150mm, BF route, FoB East coast) is $540-550/t, FoB.
Chinese domestic billet prices hit a 12-year high, creating room for imports: On 21 Mar ’21, the Tangshan Q235 150mm square billet price in North China’s Hebei province soared to a new high of RMB 4,620/t ($710.1/t) ex Tangshan, including 13% VAT since mid-Sep ’08. However, today the prices witnessed further correction of + RMB 20 and reached RMB 4,640/t ($712/t) ex Tangshan, including 13% VAT.
The spot offers are RMB 4,720-4,730/t ($725-727/t) ex Tangshan including 13% VAT.
However, Chinese bids for Indian billets are not rising in parallel with the domestic prices. During conversations with traders, SteelMint learned- “Due to sluggish finished long steel demand, the Chinese are not bidding over $605-610/t, CFR for Indian billets. And with rising freights, it is challenging to match these price levels, and mills are also not open for much negotiations”.
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