After the visible demand fall seen in the Chinese import billet market last week, new deals from ASEAN have been done this week, indicating some improvement in the sentiment.
A contract for an ex-Indonesia BOF billet was done at $670/mt CFR on Tuesday, sources have said, while today additional volume from the same supplier has changed hands at $675/mt CFR China. In total, at least 30,000 mt of billet have been procured from Indonesia. “This price [$675/mt CFR] is too aggressive, but still possible,” one of the major Chinese importers said.
The major Vietnamese seller was also in negotiations with Chinese traders at $640/mt FOB or $670/mt CFR on Monday, but by today an offer has increased to $650/mt FOB ($680/mt CFR). “They [the Vietnamese producer] sold some [150 mm billet] in the Philippines at around $675-676/mt CFR also,” an international trader said.
The current tradable price level for imported billet in China at $670-675/mt CFR is $10/mt above that reported earlier this week and $20/mt higher compared to late last week. “Traders hope prices will return to $700/mt CFR and up, but the market is still cautious,” a source said.
Local billet prices in Tangshan have increased by another RMB 20/mt ($3/mt) over a day, reaching RMB 4,950/mt ex-works, which translates to $677/mt excluding 13 percent VAT.