Italian Market Demand Is Sluggish（china Steel FOB Price）

Quotations for imported billets from Italy have fallen recently due to sluggish demand and weak market fundamentals, particularly falling iron ore prices.

Billet demand is weak in some parts of Asia, coupled with the past holiday in Italy, the market demand is insufficient. Some Asian billet suppliers have lowered their quotations for Italy, but the lower quotations did not bring new orders.

An Indonesian supplier quoted a quotation of US$500/ton FOB equivalent to US$540-550/ton CFR, a week-on-week decrease of US$30-40/ton. The quotation of similar products from a steel mill in Vietnam is US$530/ton FOB, down US$5-10/ton on a week-on-week basis. The price of high-quality billets in China is US$575-600/ton CFR, down US$10-15/ton on a week-on-week basis. The quotation price of Indian billets has been US$585-595/ton CFR, down US$5-15/ton from the previous month.

One potential source said the most recent deal was concluded on March 29 at $570/t CFR, with the billet sourced from Indonesia.