Buying activity in Southeast Asia’s import billet market has improved since last week as buyers have been waiting for a long time and have needed to restock. The price trend is very uneven since, after some slight increase in one deal, another has been reported lately at a relatively low level. Market sources agree that, despite some improvement in demand, the overall situation is still difficult and it is unlikely that suppliers will manage to achieve much higher prices soon.
A deal for 20,000 mt of ex-Indonesia 5SP billet has been closed at $525/mt CFR Philippines, as reported early this week, as the main buyer in the country has needed to purchase and there has been a lack of offers for 5SP. Also, another deal for around 10,000 mt of ex-Japan billet has been reported at $520/mt CFR, also to the Philippines, while the seller has been offering this cargo to different buyers in Southeast Asia at $522-525/mt CFR for around a week. One of the traders said that buyers from the Philippines were targeting $515/mt CFR for quite a long time, but failed to get it, so the price in fact has not increased, it is “just higher than they [buyers] wanted,” he said.
Also, another deal for 20,000 mt of 3SP 150 mm Indonesian billet has been heard at $515/mt CFR to Thailand. “The freight to Thailand from Dexin is quoted at $20/mt, and the FOB price should be $495-498/mt FOB. The trader could have sold short earlier,” one of the major Asian traders commented. Another market source from Thailand has also heard about this deal and assessed it as being a fairly low level for the seller. Early this week, a trader offered 3SP Indonesian billet to the local market at $520/mt CFR.
The latest deals for ex-ASEAN billet were closed at $495-500/mt FOB as SteelOrbis reported on Tuesday, while the ex-China reference price has slipped to $500-505/mt FOB, down by $5/mt on average over the past week amid declining futures prices and limited demand.
The SteelOrbis reference price for imported billet in Southeast Asia (including both 3SP and 5SP) has settled at $515-525/mt CFR, in line with the latest deals for non-sanctioned material, moving up slightly by $5/mt on the upper end of the range over the past week.
At the same time, offers for sanctioned Iranian billet have been limited and are still not below $515/mt CFR, out of the range of interest of buyers. The Russian mill has still been asking for $515/mt CFR in Taiwan too, while the tradable level has been assessed at $505-508/mt CFR.