Offer prices for import billet in Southeast Asia have increased visibly over the past week, mainly based on the positive sentiments of sellers, which are based on expectations for China’s demand. At the same time, buyers in the region are assessing the situation at the moment and are not in a hurry to purchase.
Offer prices for billet have increased to $565-590/mt CFR to the Philippines depending on supplier, while they were at $545-560/mt CFR in the past week.
Early this week, one lot of ex-India billet is rumoured to have been sold at $560/mt CFR to the Philippines, and, though it has not been confirmed by the time of publication, the level seems reasonable, according to traders, in the current market conditions. A week ago, the tradable value was $535-545/mt CFR, according to SteelOrbis.
A majority of traders and one CIS-based producer have been offering billet at $565-570/mt CFR Manila, based on reports on Thursday, February 18. Southeast Asian suppliers (from Vietnam and Indonesia, in particular) have been asking higher prices - $580-590/mt CFR in the Philippines, as they have started to receive inquiries from China.
A number of market sources agree that at the moment the market level is not above $570/mt CFR in Southeast Asia as “many offers are at $570/mt CFR from various sources, but no takers,” a source from Bangkok said.
The SteelOrbis reference price for import billet in SE Asia has been increased to $560-570/mt CFR, up by $25/mt from last week.