Prices for imported billet in Southeast Asia have remained under pressure this week even though futures prices in China posted some increases early this week. Chinese traders’ offers have remained at the same low levels seen last week, being among the most competitive.
The SteelOrbis reference price for imported 3SP and 5SP billet in Southeast Asia has settled at $505-510/mt CFR this week, versus $505-515/mt CFR last week. In the Philippines, the negotiable level for ex-Thailand IF billet has slipped to $495-498/mt CFR, while last week offers for this material were closer to $497-500/mt CFR. “Thai billet is still unsold, which shows how bad demand is,” a Manila-based trader said.
At the same time, a small-volume deal from a Chinese trader for 5SP BOF billet has been rumored at $510/mt CFR, but no details have been reported by the time of publication and some market sources believe that the contract if true could not be for Manila, but would rather be for Cebu. “It is possible that there was a recent deal for ASEAN billet booked at $510/mt CFR Manila as I see such offers now,” an importer said. If the deal was done for ex-Indonesia 130 mm billet, which is most probable, according to market sources, it means that traders are still waiting for a further decline in FOB prices from the mill since this CFR level translates to not above $490/mt FOB, while this week the mill’s offer is at $495-500/mt FOB.
In Thailand and Indonesia, the most competitive offers are still from Chinese traders, for Chinese origin 3SP billet at $505/mt CFR, in line with last week. While no fresh offers for ex-Iran billet have been reported so far, the previous level (at $510-515/mt CFR early this month) is already considered unworkable. “Russia is also inactive in the region,” a trader said.