Posted on 27 Mar 2024
Taiwanese mills placed a large order for Russian billet last week amid an improved domestic rebar market, Kallanish learns.
Around 100,000 tonnes of 3sp 150mm square billet from a certain Russian mill was booked last Thursday at a base price of $500/tonne cfr Taiwan. The cargo was for May/June shipment.
“The deal mostly involved vanadium-added billet, with extras of $22/t for 0.02% V and $27/t for 0.03% V,” a regional trader says. While it is now possible to source these grades of billet from China, it is normally difficult to compete against Russian-origin prices. “However, these days, Chinese prices are similar to Russian in the case of vanadium-added billet,” he notes.
“The debar market has been good recently,” a Taiwanese trader says. Inventories of rebar are running low, he adds. A hike in electricity tariffs in Taiwan next month, which is expected to push up steelmaking costs in the country, may have spurred the buying (see Kallanish passim).
Source:Mysteel Global
