A huge drop in Chinese import steel billet bids has caused sellers to slash offer prices in an attempt to sell material to alternative markets, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday August 20.
Chinese ferrous futures were in freefall from Monday August 16 to Thursday August 19 amid pessimistic outlook for near-term economic growth and steel demand in China. Although contracts recovered slightly during trading on Friday, sources said the damage to physical prices was already done.A deal for Indonesian-origin 3sp BF billet was heard at $680 per tonne cfr China earlier in the week, but the lower bids caused offers to fall to $640 per tonne fob Vietnam - or $670 per tonne cfr China with...