Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) had floated a global tender for export of prime mild steel non-alloy hot rolled plates of 5,000-14,000 MT quantity for Sept’17 shipment. The material will be of specifications – S235/S275JR+AR & S355JR/S355J2+N. Bid due date for the same was on 28 Jul’17 at 17:00 hrs.
As per sources, tender was concluded with 3-4 bidders on 31st Jul. However tender quantity was heard to have increased to 19,000-20,000 MT.
Market participant shared,company has concluded this tender at around 480/MT FoB India east coast for base grade mild steel. This is higher by USD 15/MT price of previous tender concluded by the company in the month of Jun’17. Cargo is likely to be shipped to Europe.
SAIL charges premium related to technical requirements and specifications.Thus the final export price for mild steel will come to around USD 540/MT, CFR Europe. Freight to Europe is currently at USD 35/MT. High tensile plates are costlier than mild steel by around USD 35-40/MT.
Europe emerging as preferred destination for Indian plates – Europe has imposed anti dumping duty on imports of HR plates of Chinese origin.In order to provide relief to domestic EU companies, European Commission imposed duties ranging between 65.1% and 73.7% for heavy plates.
This proves to be the opportunity for the Indian mills to export plates to European nations and gain good realizations in global market. Also recently European currency – Euro has appreciated in last few months making imports cost effective.
Chinese domestic plate prices pushes export offers-
Chinese plate export offers rose again by USD 10-15/MT in the seventh consecutive week owing to higher domestic prices in China.
Current plate export offers are assessed in the range of USD 490-500/MT, FoB China.Last week the prices was in the range of USD 480-485/MT,FoB basis.
Chinese mills have witnessed the price rally in past six weeks and has recorded the growth of USD 55-60/MT on FoB basis in global market.
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