China's appetite for importing steel billet despite high levels of steel inventories indicates growing confidence that a rebound in the domestic steel sector is expected in the near future, a stark contrast to virus-induced uncertainty worldwide.
This could alleviate the pressure on regional prices with other Asian steelmakers struggling to exhaust billet surpluses due to a consumption slowdown during the novel coronavirus (2019-nCOV) pandemic, market sources told Fastmarkets.An Indonesian steelmaker sold 20,000 tonnes of April-shipment 150mm billet into China last week at $395 per tonne fob, or about $407-410 per tonne cfr China, amid an open arbitrage window between international and domestic prices....