Asian billet and rebar prices slid March 14 as raw material costs declined while pig iron output fell.
Blast furnaces in South China were heard planning maintenance due to low production margins and weak demand, causing iron ore prices to collapse. Rebar output declined in the week while HRC output was higher, according to sources.
“Mills are shifting longs product capacity to producing flats products, but flats are performing as bad, especially the cold rolled products,” said a Chinese trader.
In the seaborne billet market, open origin 5SP billets were sold at $530/mt CFR Manila this week, but the level was no longer a tradable one, according to market participants. 3SP cargo, on the other hand, was heard tradable at $520/mt CFR Manila.
Blast furnace mills in Southeast Asia struggled to sell April shipment cargoes, with few traders interested at current offer levels. The rising freight to Manila due to congestion was also discouraging traders from buying from the mills on an FOB basis.
Platts assessed the price of 5SP 130 mm billet on a CFR Southeast Asia basis at $529/mt, flat on the day, and Chinese import 3SP 150 mm spot billet at $415/mt CFR China, down $3/mt on the day.
Rerollers in Tangshan were still affected by production restrictions. The downstream section steel market was also muted, sources said.
Platts assessed Chinese domestic billet at Yuan 3,380/mt on a Tangshan ex-stock basis for Q235 billet material, Yuan 80/mt lower on the day.
In the Beijing rebar market, spot prices fell amid limited transactions. Spot rebar prices fell by Yuan 100/mt during the day. According to market participants, downstream buyers were purchasing moderate volumes, but the total trading volume was low.
Platts assessed the domestic Beijing HRB400 18-25 mm rebar spot price at Yuan 3,470/mt ex-stock in theoretical weight, down Yuan 100/mt day on day.
In the seaborne rebar market, prices edged lower as mills offered at more competitive levels. Vietnam-origin rebar offers were heard around $540/mt
DAP Singapore in theoretical weight and CFR Hong Kong in actual weight. Platts assessed 16-32 mm BS4449 grade 500 rebar at $539/ mt CFR Southeast Asia, $5/mt lower day on day, and Chinese export 16-40 mm diameter BS500B grade rebar at $530/mt FOB, also down $5/mt on the day.
