Proposal to amend the frequency of Fastmarkets’ China import billet price assessment: pricing notice

The proposal is to reduce the frequency of the price assessment for steel billet, import, cfr China from weekly to fortnightly.

Imports of steel billet have dropped sharply since April 2022, following three months of active imports, because China’s domestic prices have been lower than international prices.

In January and February 2023 combined, China’s imports of steel billet (Harmonized System (HS) code 72071100) totaled 68,229 tonnes, a decline of 91% from the 729,059 tonnes imported in the first two months of 2022, according to Chinese customs data.

The consultation period for this proposed amendment starts on Wednesday April 5 and will end on Wednesday May 3.

The final weekly assessment take place on April 28, with the proposed amendment then taking place, subject to market feedback, on Thursday May 4. The first assessment under the new frequency will be published on Friday May 12 and every two weeks thereafter.

To provide feedback on this assessment, or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter to this price, please email pricing@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading “FAO: Jessica Zong, re: China billet import price assessment.”

To see all of Fastmarkets’ pricing methodology and specification documents, go to: https://www.fastmarkets.com/methodology.