Indian billet export offers to Nepal rose by $10-30/t w-o-w. However, buyers resisted the higher offers due to weak domestic finished steel demand despite a slight fall in rebar offers in the country, as per SteelMint’s weekly assessment.
- IF-route billet export offers have increased by $30/t, w-o-w, to around $675/t CPT Nepal (equivalent to $650/t exw Durgapur). Demand for IF route billets remained weak as there were not any fresh deals this week.
- Offers for blast furnace (BF)-route billets from the primary steel mills were raised by $10/to $650-655/t and the last deals for two-three rakes (5,000-7,500 t) were reported at $640-645/t CPT Nepal.
- Nepal’s re-rollers have limited their raw material (billet) sourcing, as they are unable to pass on the higher input costs due to seasonal weak demand for finished steel and closing of fiscal year (16 July).
- The rebar offers in Nepal fell by NPR 1,000/t ($8/t) w-o-w, and stand at around NPR 91,000/t ($718/t) on ex-works basis, excluding VAT, for size 12mm material.
Sponge iron deals concluded
- The majority of furnaces booked sponge iron at the beginning of the week, when the prices were low compared to the current offers. A total of four rakes (10,000 t) of deals were reported this week, out of which three rakes (7,500 t) traded at $435-440/t (FeM 79-80%, lumps 70%, fines 30%). However, today the offers for the same material stands at around $460/t LTW-eastern India.
Wire rods
Demand for wire rods remained poor from Nepal on account of the export duty imposed by the Indian government.
- Current offers by plants for the IF-route, commercial grade material stand at around $830-835/t, while offers by the primary mills (BF-route, grade SAE 1008) were reported at $870/t, both on CPT Nepal basis.
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