Sentiments in the Asian billet market have improved on Thursday, April 16, following rises in futures prices in China and lower-than-expected production data for March released today in China. However, buyers have been rather quiet and some customers in Southeast Asia have even cut their bids further as they do not believe prices will increase, at least for now.
The Chinese billet reference price has settled at $460-470/mt FOB today, up by $2.5/mt on average compared to the previous day, with most offers standing at $465/mt FOB. “The market is feeling stronger support from the demand side and March production witnessed a 6.3 percent drop [year on year] in output,” a Chinese trader said. Another big trader added, “A $5/mt increase in export offers is logical in the current circumstances.”
The leading Indonesian mill has also voiced a daily increase in billet and slab prices, by $5/mt to $495/mt FOB and $545/mt FOB, respectively.
Asian market sources have also said that many traders have withdrawn offers today to evaluate situation. “Prices are currently driven by sentiment and geopolitics, so fundamental factors have taken the back seat,” a Singapore-based source said.
At the same time, in Southeast Asia, most bids for Chinese billets (both 5SP and 3SP) have been at only $470-480/mt CFR, down from the previous bids and deals at $480-490/mt CFR seen in the previous few weeks. In the Philippines, after the easing of the tradable levels to $485/mt CFR or even slightly lower early this week, rare offers have now come back to $490/mt CFR. However, a trader commented, “The trading is fully stopped. No one will give a realistic bid as inventories are good.”
This week’s offers for Chinese 3SP have been heard at $482-483/mt CFR to Thailand and Indonesia, easing from $485/mt CFR last week. But a Bangkok-based source said, “This was the real offer level on Tuesday or yesterday, but we did not receive new offers today. So, there is no clear trend,”.
The SteelOrbis reference price for import billet in Southeast Asia has settled at $482-490/mt CFR with the mid-point at $486/mt FOB, down by $1.5/mt on average over the past week.
