The number of billet offers in the Southeast Asian import market has been limited this week. Some suppliers have been sold out, while some have decided to withdraw offers. As a result, the level of offer prices has increased. But rare deals heard in the market have been concluded at the lower level so far.
Offers for customers in the Philippines have been mostly at $375/mt CFR and above for Indian and Russian billet. A deal for 15,000-20,000 mt of ex-India billet at $365/mt CFR Philippines has been widely discussed in the market, but it has not been confirmed by the time of publication by sources in the Philippines. Reports said that the buyer was SteelAsia Manufacturing, but the port of delivery has not been disclosed. Some sources believe that the next deals may be done at $370/mt CFR, but mentioned that the main problem for now is not the price, but real demand. There has been a report of a cancelation of an Indonesian billet order in the Philippines, which was placed before the lockdown.
Customers from Indonesia and Thailand have been receiving offers at $370-375/mt CFR for Indian and Russian billet, $10/mt above the level of last week, but most importers have faced low demand in their local market and have not reacted.
A deal for about 30,000 mt of ex-Iran billet was done in Thailand at $355/mt CFR for May shipment last week. Moreover, some tonnage has been sold to Indonesia at $350-355/mt CFR. “Some deals were already done last week. This week is silent. No firm offers,” an Indonesian customer told SteelOrbis. Some sources report that a fresh sale by an Iranian mill has been done at $340-345/mt FOB for June shipment, with the cargo to be sold to an end-user in Southeast Asia. As a result, sources said that the CFR price for Iranian billet is unlikely to be below $370/mt in the near future.
The SteelOrbis weekly reference price for imported billet in Southeast Asia has increased by $5-7/mt to $365-375/mt CFR.
