Weekly round-up: Global billets market subdued amid volatile Chinese steel futures

The global billets market remained less active this week in the absence of firm bids and volatile rebar futures prices. According to data maintained with SteelMint, China’s SHFE rebar futures contract for Jan’22 delivery closed at RMB 4,247/tonne (t) ($664/t) on 5 Nov’21, witnessing a sharp decline of RMB 399/t ($62/t), w-o-w.

Market highlights –

• Indian billets exports market mute: The Indian billet exports market continued to remain silent following volatile Chinese steel futures. This resulted in the absence of firm bids.
• SE Asia’s imported billets market silent: The imported billets market in South East Asia also remained silent this week. SteelMint’s bi-weekly assessment of imported billets for South East Asia currently stands at $660/t CFR Manila, a drop of $10/t w-o-w.
• Vietnam’s billets export offers drop: Vietnam’s billets exports market remained less active this week. According to SteelMint sources, the country’s BF-route offers were at $640/t FOB, a sharp w-o-w drop of around $45/t.
• Thailand’s billet price indications down: Indicative imported billet offers into the country were hovering at around $655/t CFR from various origins, down by around $25/t, w-o-w. Also, deals to Thailand were concluded at around $650-660/t CFR.
• Iran’s billets export prices fall in recent deals: Iranian billets and slab export prices fell tracking the global trends and a sharp drop in Chinese steel futures. An Iranian mill concluded an export deal for 30,000 t of 3 SP steel billets, sources informed SteelMint. According to market sources, the deal was heard to have been concluded at $620/t on FOB basis. Another Iranian mill recently concluded export tenders of 30,000 t of steel billets at $620/t FOB and 40,000 t of slabs at $640/t, as per SteelMint reports. Billet and slab export prices corrected downwards by $20/t w-o-w each against mid-Oct’21.
• China’s billet prices stable: Steel billet prices in China’s Tangshan remained stable throughout this week. Domestic billet prices stood at RMB 4,800/t ($766/t), inclusive of 13% VAT.