Billet Export Prices Flat Over Slow Buying Activity

EghtesadOnline: In Iran, export prices for steel billet remained unchanged in the week that ended April 25, as buying activity slowed.

News ID: ۷۸۲۴۸۲

05 May 2018

Prices in most global markets either held steady or continued to weaken during the week from April 23-27 after global trading activity eased amid soft demand.

Iranian mills offered May-June output billet at $500-510 per ton FOB, but bids came in at $495-500 per ton FOB.

A cargo of Iranian billet was heard booked in the UAE at $525 per ton CFR, equivalent to $500-505 per ton FOB, according to Financial Tribune.

In the UAE and Saudi Arabia, import prices for billet and rebar were also stable, although demand was subdued, sources told Metal Bulletin on April 24.

Iranian billet offers were heard at $530 per ton CFR and a deal was done at $525 per ton CFR for 5,000 tons, participants said.

Demand for imported rebar in both the UAE and Saudi Arabia remained almost non-existent and no new prices were heard.

As for the rest of the world, Chinese domestic biller prices lost their upward momentum on Wednesday, then fell on Thursday and Friday. Chinese billet was being traded at 3,570 yuan ($565) per ton, including VAT on Friday in Tangshan, down by 10 yuan per ton from a day earlier.

Also in Southeast Asia, billet prices picked up some strength last week amid higher offers from China, as a result of a recovery in the country’s domestic billet and rebar markets.

In the Commonwealth of Independent States, the export billet market had a quiet week, with thin buying activity due to the mismatch between offers and bids.

Most mills continued to offer billet at $510-515 per ton FOB Black Sea, while official offers from Ukraine’s ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih were reported at $520-530 per ton FOB Black Sea. This is while buyers were bidding only $500-505 per ton FOB. The market is in “standby mode”, a source said.