An increase in import billet prices has been seen in the Southeast Asian market lately not only in offers, but also in deals. But overall sentiment has become more cautious as local billet prices as well as futures prices in China have been showing negative corrections.
According to sources, the latest deal for 150 mm billet from Bahrain was done at $460/mt FOB to the Philippines, and, though the exact freight is unknown by the time of publication, sources have said that the price level should be equivalent to $485-490/mt CFR. The size of the billet in this deal is uncommon for most customers in the Philippines, who prefer to buy 120-130 mm billet.
Most offers for imported billet in the Philippines have been coming at not below $490/mt CFR recently, and some suppliers have been asking $500/mt CFR. But customers have decided to take a wait-and-see position to evaluate the situation. Moreover, sources have reported that the number of offers was also much lower early this week. “Last week, we saw offers at $490-495/mt [CFR Manila]. They are gone now. The question now is are we on the correction level already?” a local source from the Philippines said. “Certainly the market was overheated. Perhaps this week we will see some easing,” another trader said.
The SteelOrbis reference price for imported billet in Southeast Asia has increased by $5/mt on average from last Thursday to $490/mt CFR amid recent bookings and higher offer price levels.
In China’s local market, billet prices in Tangshan have lost about RMB 50/mt ($7.6/mt) from Friday, coming to RMB 3,580/mt ($544/mt) ex-works. The closing price for rebar futures at Shanghai Future Exchange was at RMB 3,910/mt ($594/mt) on November 24, which is RMB 67/mt ($10/mt) below the level on November 20.
