Posted on 05 Mar 2021
On rising demand, the Indian mills are highly active in the export market these days, especially state-owned mills. Two of the Indian state-owned mills have floated export tenders for around 142,000 t billets/blooms.
The tenders are floated for multiple sizes- 65*65mm, 90*90mm, 125*125mm, 150*150mm, and 200*200mm, while the grades offered are 3SP/4SP/5SP. Of the total quantity floated, 90,000 t blooms/billets is under negotiation. While the due date for the remaining tender quantities is scheduled for 5-8 Mar ’21.
Tenders under process-
Rising Chinese domestic billet prices attracting Indian imports: The Chinese domestic billet prices are on a continuous rise post CNY holidays. For instance, billet prices yesterday in the Tangshan market (Northeast China) witnessed a significant rise of RMB 140 ($22).
The prices of commonly traded Q235 billet 150mm diameter were reported at RMB 4,410/t ($683/t) in Tangshan, inclusive of 13 % VAT. Today also the domestic prices are seen at similar levels.
As mills are making up the losses incurred during and pre holidays, the bids from China for Non-ASEAN billets have now increased to $590-595/t, CFR. This is likely to drive billet exports from India.
SteelMint’s bi-weekly assessment for Indian billets (150*150mm, BF route, FoB east coast) is currently at $540-545/t, up by $5-10 w-o-w.
On the other hand, the domestic billet prices posed an upward trend. For instance, SteelMint’s daily billet index saw a w-o-w rise of INR 750 ($10.3) and is currently at INR 38,100/t exw ($525/t).
The secondary mills were seen catering to the domestic market, while primary mills stayed focused on the export market amid better price realizations. However, we heard a few Western India-based secondary mills offering IF route billets for export at $570-580/t, FoB, but no deals were witnessed at this price level.
Source:SteelMint
