Prices in the import billet market in Southeast Asia have stabilized over the past week as on the one hand buyers have been resisting any further increase, while the majority of suppliers have been not ready to provide discounts, still seeing high production costs. Cheaper ex-Russia billet lots have been trying to find takers, but have failed as most buyers are afraid to take risks as more sanctions could be imposed on Russian mills and both payment and transaction issues have remained.
A deal for ex-Vietnam EAF billet (10,000-20,000 mt) has been signed in the Philippines at $815/mt CFR recently, which signals a stabilization compared to last week’s tradable level at $810-820/mt CFR. “The market seems a bit sluggish,” a trader said. “I have not seen much change in prices since last week. Buyers want $810/mt CFR, but offers are higher,” another source said.
Ex-Malaysia 120-130mm billet has been offered at $830-840/mt CFR Manila, and ex-Indonesia BOF 150 mm billet has been available at $830/mt CFR. Offers for ex-China 5SP billet have not been below $830/mt CFR this week, up from the previous contract to the Philippines at $821/mt CFR a week ago. “Offer prices are moving up, but it is difficult to imagine buyers accepting this level already,” an Asian trader said, adding, “Iron ore has also surged. So, there's little room for mills to reduce prices also”.
An offer for ex-Indonesia billet has been at a lower level to Thailand, at $820/mt CFR, but this is still not attractive to buyers, who evaluate the tradable level at not above $800/mt CFR.
Some customers in the Philippines have been considering cheaper IF billet options in case of urgent need. As SteelOrbis reported earlier this week, a deal for 10,000 mt of ex-Vietnam IF was done at $780/mt CFR. “There are Vietnamese and Thai induction billet offers that are much cheaper [than EAF and BOF billets from ASEAN and China] at $770-780/mt CFR Manila,” a re-roller said.
Also, a number of cheap ex-Russia billet offers have been seen in Southeast Asia over the past ten days. One source said that a Russian mill has offered three cargoes at $780-790/mt CFR to the Philippines, while two other sources confirmed offers received at the same level over the past week. “There is not so much resistance to buy [ex-Russia billet], but concerns that Russian deliveries may be compromised if sanctions are further expanded or tightened,” a source from the Philippines said. Another market player said he believed that payment is still an issue and, though Russian mills were offering both on US dollar and RMB basis, buyers are not willing to take risks, even taking into account discounts on ex-Asia billet offers. The only deal for ex-Russia billet is rumoured to have been to Taiwan at $780/mt CFR, which, however, could not be confirmed by the time of publication.
The SteelOrbis reference price for imported billet in Southeast Asia has been settled at $810-820/mt CFR, almost in line with last week’s levels.