Prices for imported billet have risen slightly in Southeast Asia compared to last week mainly on expectations and suppliers’ strong positions. China has continued to buy imported billet from Southeast Asia, though some decline in the local billet market and futures prices have been putting pressure on sentiments.
According to sources, last week around 20,000 mt of ex-Indonesia billet has been booked at $451-452/mt CFR China, up by $5-6/mt from $445-447/mt CFR confirmed in the previous bookings for Southeast Asian billet to China. “All the market is talking about this,” a trader said. “Quite surprising. It is impossible to tell the market direction now,” another source said.
Sources reported that this deal could have been done on expectations for better prices in China in the near future amid a demand improvement and some production limitations in northern China. But one of the sources from Indonesia said that the majority of bids for billet from Southeast Asia are not above $445/mt CFR at the moment, from Chinese customers in particular. One Chinese trader has reported that the deals for ex-Southeast Asia billet were done at $441-445/mt CFR late last week, but this has not been confirmed by the time of publication. Most sources agree that the sentiment in China has been not very strong due to fluctuations of local prices, but the offer levels from the major exporters are still at above $450/mt CFR.
Today, on October 20, local billet prices in Tangshan have declined by RMB 20/mt ($3/mt) to RMB 3,400/mt ($507) ex-works. Rebar futures at Shanghai Futures exchange have lost RMB 11/mt ($1.6/mt) on the same day.
In Southeast Asia, last week 6,000 mt of Japanese billet were sold at $447/mt CFR Manila in line with the general price levels of $445-450/mt CFR. However, early this week “billet offers went up generally to $450/mt CFR Manila. It is impossible to find lower,” a Manila-based re-roller said.
The SteelOrbis reference price for imported billet in Southeast Asia has been increased to $450/mt CFR, up by $2.5/mt on average from last week.