SAIL, NINL and JSW Steel are finding current prices difficult to hold because of cheaper imported Billet offers. They may reduce prices to compete with imported offers.
In current scenario, a few primary steel producers such as Neelachal Ispat, JSW Steel and SAIL are selling MS billet in domestic market. As per sources, yesterday, a senior official at Neelachal Ispat offered billet in Mandi market at INR 25,000/MT (advance payment, Ex-works Odisha). However, counter offers from buyers were at INR 24,000/MT. In addition, today SAIL, India’s another large Steelmaker, has offered billet at INR 25,000/MT Ex-works (Burnpur, West Bengal; next day payment). This offer is from its IISCO plant in East India.
Scrap Importers Offer Billet to Indian Clients
Imported billet (100×100) offers from South Africa are assessed at USD 370-380/MT, CIF Mumbai/Chennai. The material is booked for Jun’15 deliveries in containers. Sources also stated about 10,000-20,000 MT cargo has been booked by few importers to CIF Mumbai. European origin HMS scrap offers remained stable at USD 280-285/MT and shredded at USD 300-305/MT. The stability is due to buying in Asia by Bangladesh & Pakistan. Due to strengthening of dollar, Indian buyers are reluctant to buy imported scrap and are deviating towards sponge iron.
Secondary Market: MS billet prices in secondary market remained volatile at INR 27,200-27,500/MT (Ex-works Mumbai, Chennai & Ahmedabad). Sponge iron prices are likely to be under pressure owing to decline in iron ore prices and increased Iron ore production. Currently, 82+ FeM C-DRI in Raipur is being offered at INR 18,400/MT (+800), 84 FeM at INR 17,900/MT (-100) in Hyderabad and 82 FeM at INR 16,300-16,500/MT (-350) in Bellary.
Raw Material & Semi Finish Prices as on 13 May’15
| Place | C-DRI (FeM) | W-o-W | P-DRI | W-o-W | HMS Scrap | W-o-W | MS Ingot | W-o-W | MS Billet | W-o-W |
| Mandi | 20,100 (79) | – 300 | 18,600 | – 300 | 21,400 | + 200 | 29,550 | + 50 | 29,800 | + 100 |
| Raipur | 18,400 (82) | + 800 | 15,500 | 0 | 20,450 | – 150 | 25,300 | – 100 | 25,800 | – 200 |
| Durgapur | 18,100 (78) | + 600 | 15,900 | 0 | 21,100 | – 500 | 25,900 | – 200 | 26,050 | – 300 |
| Hyderabad | 17,900 (84) | – 100 | 15,500 | – 300 | 20,300 | 0 | 27,000 | + 150 | 27,000 | 0 |
Prices in INR/MT
Source: SteelMint Research
Global Billet Prices in Week 18
| Particular | Prices | W-o-W | M-o-M |
| FoB Vizag, India | 370 | 0 | – 18 |
| FoB Black Sea | 375 | + 3 | + 17 |
| CNF Turkey | 390 | 0 | + 12 |
| CNF Dubai | 385 | 0 | + 3 |
Prices in USD/MT
Source: SteelMint Research
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