Posted on 22 Jul 2022
Prevailing high billet export offers from India have led East African buyers to look for alternative yet viable origins for billet, to satisfy their demand. This, in turn, has helped South Africa-based sellers place their billet in the region, by selling multiple cargoes at comparatively low prices.
Indian billet offers have started dropping since Thursday on falling domestic sentiment but still remain higher than their South African counterparts, Kallanish notes.
Indian 3SP/4SP re-rollable grade induction furnace billet initial offers are noted at $630-640/tonne fob western India, equating to $720-730/t cfr Kenya and Tanzania. Bids, on the other hand, are heard at $670-675/t cfr in Kenya and Tanzania. On Thursday evening, a few Indian sellers informed they had dropped their offers to $620/t fob; however, they are still $20-30/t higher than buyers’ expectations.
Amid high Indian offers, a regular buyer of Indian material purchased 4,000 tonnes of South Africa-origin billet on Wednesday at $665/t cfr Tanzania cash basis for August arrival.
“South Africa could be a short-term solution for East African buyers, but for the long-term, they have to rely on Indian material … considering the export capacity and reliability of Indian mills,” says a trading source.
Billet offers in India’s domestic market are at $642/t ex-Mandi, whereas billet offers in Raipur and Ahemdabad are hovering at $594/t and $614/t, respectively. Ingot – small-sized, semifinished – prices are noted at $619/t ex-Bhavnagar and $622/t ex-Ahmedabad.
“Till now, the Indian billet prices were going up across India but now we are seeing a drop in demand in the domestic market,” says a mill source. “This fall in sentiment might make Indian export offers acceptable to African buyers in the coming days.”
Source:Kallanish
