China's decision to remove its import tax on all steel billet last week means Fastmarkets will not proceed with any changes to limit data points to Asean-origin prices.
Since the launch of the price on February 26 of this year, the market has been liquid, with Fastmarkets reporting a raft of deals for steel billet imported into China.
Most of the imports this year have been from Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) region, produced by mills in Vietnam, Indonesia or Malaysia.
Material originating from locations such as Russia and China had been incurring an import tax of 2% in China, but the tax was removed effective Saturday May 1,
China's Ministry of Finance announced on April 27 that
there will no longer be import taxes for pig iron, crude steel, recycled steel raw materials, semi-finished steel, ferro-chrome and other products.
Fastmarkets
launched a consultation last month about limiting its data points for the price MB-STE-0890
Steel billet, import, cfr China to Asean-only material [LINK] but in light of the recent tax changes and conversations with market participants, this will not take place.
The specifications for the assessment will remain as follows:
MB-STE-0890: Steel billet, import, cfr China, $/tonne
Quality: 120x120mm to 150x150mm, length 12m, 3sp grade
Quantity: 5,000-50,000 tonnes
Location: cfr eastern China ports (normalized for other mainland Chinese sea ports)
Timing: 4-8 weeks
Unit: $ per tonne
Payment terms: Letter of credit on sight
Publication: Weekly, Friday, 5-6pm Shanghai time
If you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter to Fastmarkets' steel billet pricing or provide feedback on this pricing notice, please contact Jessica Zong or Lee Allen by email at:
pricing@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading "FAO: Jessica Zong/Lee Allen, re: China steel billet price."
To see all of Fastmarkets' pricing methodology and specification documents, go to
https://www.fastmarkets.com/about-us/methodology.