Weekly round-up: Global billet offers remain supported, trades yet to gain momentum

Global billet offers remained supported this week despite the fall in Chinese rebar futures. Meanwhile, trades slowed down on bid-offer disparities. Offers resumed this week from Iran after the Nowruz holidays. Also, some silent offerings from CIS were heard this week, although firm offers were absent.

According to data maintained with SteelMint, China’s rebar futures contract for Oct’22 delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) closed at RMB 5,019/t ($789/t) on 8 Apr’22, a sharp fall of RMB 141/t ($22/t), w-o-w.

Market highlights

• Indian ocean billet export market subdued: The Indian blast furnace (BF)-route billet export market remained subdued over the last few weeks on lower bids and higher domestic realisations. No export tender from the primary mills were heard concluded this week. However, around 6,000 t of induction furnace (IF-grade, 3sp) export deals were reported from Gujarat-based mills in western India, concluded towards the end of last week at around $800/t FOB Mundra Port. Also, another deal for 10,000 t was heard concluded at around $802-805/t FOB Kandla, as per sources. Both the deals were concluded for an African country.
• Iranian billet export trades resume after holidays: Iran’s billet exports are expected to regain momentum as mills return to the market after the month-long Nowruz (Persian New Year) holiday. Iran’s billet export prices moved up this week and mills are eyeing a further hike in upcoming tenders. Khouzestan Steel Company (KSC) has floated an export tender for 50,000 t of billets, the shipment for which is scheduled for the end-May. Another tender by ESCO was opened this week for 30,000 t of BF billets, with the due date being the end of this week. SteelMint’s latest assessment of Iran’s billet (3SP) export price stood at $720/t FOB on 8 April, up $30/t, w-o-w.
• SE Asia billet import trade remains slow: South East Asia’s imported billet market remained largely inactive due to the price gap between bids and offers. The weakening of buy-side sentiments kept bids on the lower side, thereby holding back trade. SteelMint’s bi-weekly assessment of imported billet (150*150mm, 3SP) into the Philippines stands at around $810/t CFR Manila, largely stable w-o-w.
• Vietnam’s export offers down: Vietnam’s BF billet export offers stood at $770/t FOB. However, no deals were heard concluded this week.
• Thailand’s imports remain supported: Indicative imported billet prices into the country were hovering around $820-830/t CFR. Also, offers from Iran were heard at around $785/t CFR. As per market sources, South East Asia, especially Thailand, has become the preferred market for Iranian billets due to better realisations and low demand in China due to COVID-19 concerns.
• China’s billet prices fall towards the weekend: Steel billet prices in China’s Tangshan witnessed a decrease of RMB 30/t ($5t) w-o-w. Prices stood at RMB 4,830/t ($759/t), inclusive of 13% VAT, on 8 April.