Prices in the Southeast Asian billet market have moved up again in deals this week, but market participants believe that they have already reached their peak for the time being.
This week, ex-Russia billet has been sold to the Philippines at $425/mt CFR for January shipment. Though the volume has not been confirmed by the time of publication, traders said that the contract was for 50,000 mt. This is the highest deal price achieved in the Southeast Asian billet market in recent weeks, a number of sources said.
As reported earlier, billet transactions were at $420-425/mt CFR and slightly higher for ex-CIS and ex-Vietnam billets last week in the Philippines.
Offers to Thailand and Indonesia have been heard not lower than $420/mt CFR this week. “We received offers for non-Iranian billet at even $430-440/mt CFR,” a trader said.
Most suppliers of billet to Southeast Asia have already sold out most of January shipment volumes owing to strong demand from China over the last two weeks.
SteelOrbis’ reference price for billet in Southeast Asia has increased by $5-10/mt over the past week to $425-430/mt CFR.
Offers ex-Iran have also increased again to $420/mt CFR following the recent trade to China at $410/mt CFR. “Iran is trying to offer at $420/mt CFR and above for February shipment, but some traders still have long positions for January shipment in hand, so they might consider lower prices,” a Bangkok-based customer said.
