Prices for import billet in Southeast Asia have posted small declines this week amid limited trading and the ongoing low levels of bids, though Chinese exporters have been trying to hold quotations firm because of their high costs.
Offers for 5SP 150 mm billet in the Philippines have been heard at $495/mt CFR in the middle of the week, slightly down from $499-503/mt CFR a week ago. On Thursday, some buyers received much higher offers - at $509/mt CFR for 3SP and $513/mt for 5SP. This has been explained by rising production costs and the expected increase in China. But customers have not been taking these offers seriously and assess this as a lack of interest in sales in general. “Even $495/mt CFR was high here. Anything above $500/mt CFR will not make sense,” a Manila-based source said.
Prices for Chinese 3SP billet available in Southeast Asia have been generally stable over the past week at around $495/mt CFR, but rumors about a lower level ($490/mt CFR) have also been heard, even though sellers have denied this. In Indonesia, local billet has been on offer at $503/mt CFR for September shipment. The Indonesian mill officially has only October shipment available at $485/mt FOB.
Last week, 20,000 mt of ex-Russia 3SP billet were sold to Taiwan at $495/mt CFR. “It was quite a reasonable price last week,” a Singapore-based trader said, adding that the tradable level has eased slightly this week. Talk about a sale of Chinese vanadium-added billet, which usually has a $10/mt extra or even more, at $495/mt CFR has emerged this week. But most sources agree that for base 3SP it would be $460-465/mt FOB and that it is unrealistically low for the current market.
Indian billet exporters were offering rather actively last week (at near $495-500/mt CFR), “but gave up the idea when they heard of the low numbers here [in Southeast Asia],” a source said.
The SteelOrbis reference price for import billet in Southeast Asia stands at $490-500/mt CFR, losing $4/mt on average over the past week.
