The uptrend seen last week in the Southeast Asian billet market has continued and higher levels have been confirmed in deals. But market sources have doubts that this trend will continue with demand fading away again and fundamentals not so good.
A few deals for ex-Indonesia and ex-Malaysia billets were signed at $550/mt CFR late last week. The total volume is said to have reached 50,000 mt of billets, mainly mixed 5SP and 3SP or 5SP grades. The previous deal prices for ex-Indonesia billet were at $537-548/mt CFR depending on the grade, as reported last week. “Offers reached $560/mt CFR and higher early in the week [after deals done], but went back to $550/mt CFR Manila eventually due to no interest,” a local trader said.
“The market in general is still calm,” a source said, adding that this was regular restocking and that it will be hard for suppliers to push prices up further. After the previous large volume sales to Europe and the MENA and latest deals to the Philippines, the major volumes for October shipment from Indonesia and Malaysia are sold out.
There have been no deals for imported billet reported in Thailand or Indonesia, mainly because the gap between offers and bids is still big. Ex-Iran offers from traders have been reported to Indonesia at $510-515/mt CFR. “They are trying and bids are at $500/mt CFR,” an importer from Indonesia said. To Thailand offers have been rare and at the similar level, but bids have fallen. If last week a deal for an ex-Iran billet was done at $505/mt CFR, this week market sources said that bids are below $500/mt CFR, taking into account weak local currency and poor rebar demand. “Local rebar prices cannot hike up, still struggling at THB 20,000-20,300/mt. Due to poor demand, heavy rains and floods here and there, stockists are not restocking. To match such rebar prices, billets need to be as low as $480/mt CFR,” a source said.
The SteelOrbis reference price for imported billet in Southeast Asia (excluding ex-Iran billet) has been at $545-550/mt CFR, up by $6/mt on average from last week’s range of $535-548/mt CFR.
