The major Indonesian mill has cut its official 5SP billet offers by $15/mt to $510/mt FOB in the middle of this week, trying to accelerate sales. Also, today, June 30, ex-Dexin 3SP billet offers have been heard at $505/mt FOB.
Though previously the producer has managed to sell at $520/mt FOB to the distant markets and has claimed that most of August shipment allocation is sold out, it seems that the outlook is not very good. Traders have said that as prices in Asia are at a lower level, there has been no other choice for the mill but to cut offers.
According to market sources, this week Dexin Steel has managed to sell around 60,000 mt of billet at $500-505/mt FOB to traders mainly for 3SP. “I believe some traders have taken positions at lower level, and I expect them try to sell somewhere in the [Asian] region,” a source from Singapore said.
The latest official offers for 5SP billet from the mill to the Philippines have been at $530-535/mt CFR, a few market sources confirmed. “I would not consider this [new lower Dexin’ offers] as some drop, as for SE Asia prices are still same high,” another trader said. The SteelOrbis reference price for imported billet in SE Asia (includes only EAF and BF billet) has been at $520/mt CFR this week, down from $520-530/mt CFR last week. Offers for ex-ASEAN IF billet have been at $515/mt CFR Manila since early this week, with counterbids at $510/mt CFR.
There has been a lack of ex-Malaysia billet offers lately, but after ex-Indonesia prices decline, market sources believe that ex-Malaysia billet prices would be at $515-520/mt FOB as the highest in the next round of negotiations.