Prices for billet in Southeast Asia have started to move down this week, following lower bids from China. At the same time, the number of offers has also decreased as some suppliers are not ready to sell cheap and some are sold out.
A deal for ex-Russia billet from Russia’s Far East was heard at $405/mt CFR to the Philippines in the middle of this week, though the volume has not been confirmed by the time of publication. A number of sources have said that this price should include some extras and that the workable price is closer to $400/mt Manila this week. Last week, the tradable value was at $405-410/mt CFR Manila. “Construction in the Philippines is not going smoothly. It is still limited,” a Manila-based re-roller said. “Manila is still under control of Covid-19,” a trader said.
Not many offers have been heard in the market this week. A few Indian sellers can offer 50,000-60,000 mt of billet in total at $400/mt CFR China and by about $5/mt higher to the Philippines. “Bids from China are all below $400/mt CFR,” a trader said.
In Indonesia, over the past week ended June 18, about 130,000 mt of imported billet have been purchased at $405-407/mt CFR in two lots of 50,000 mt each from Ukraine and one lot 30,000 mt from India. No new deals have been heard recently. Small buyers “are not interested in billet at above $400/mt CFR,” a source from Indonesia said.
Offers of Indian and CIS origin billet have been heard at $405-408/mt CFR in Thailand, but there has been no interest in purchases. At the same time, a lot of 30,000 mt of Iranian billet has been sold at $399/mt CFR Thailand this week. The previous deal for Iranian billet was reported to China at $400/mt CFR last week.
The SteelOrbis reference price for imported billet in Southeast Asia has moved down by $5/mt to $400-405/mt CFR.
