Prices for import billet in Southeast Asia have increased in line with the rises seen in China this week. But buyers have been staying away from any fresh purchases at $700/mt CFR and above as they had already bought some needed volumes of cheap IF billet last week. Moreover, the seasonal demand slowdown is also putting pressure on the billet market.
Offers for EAF/BF billet from Russia, India and Vietnam to the Philippines have increased to $690-710/mt CFR this week and, though the price level at below $700/mt CFR seems “good” in the current conditions, according to market sources, customers have been not ready to purchase. “$700/mt is hard to sell here because domestic demand is really bad and it is the rainy season now, plus we're going on the so-called “ghost” month. All these together will give you a disaster,” a Manila-based trader said.
According to local import sources from the Philippines, most re-rollers have already replenished stocks of IF billet in the last bookings at $660-667/mt CFR Manila last week from Vietnam. New offers from some IF sellers have been heard at $680-690/mt CFR and slightly below in the Philippines. “The price here is the same as in China except for a few induction furnace billet offers that are still low,” a trader said.
Nevertheless, cheap IF billet prices from Vietnam may disappear in the future as the Vietnamese government is going to approve five percent export duty of billet, which is likely to make prices uncompetitive as “this is around a $35/mt increase, no one will accept this,” a source said.
Traders, offering ex-Iran billet, have focused on the Chinese market as well, where some volumes have been redirected from Southeast Asia and were sold at $690-695/mt CFR this week.
The SteelOrbis reference price for imported billet (excluding IF) in Southeast Asia has increased by $15-20/mt over the week to $690-700/mt CFR.