This week, negotiations for ex-China billet have accelerated in both the neighboring Southeast Asian market and distant outlets like the GCC. Though some deals are already reported to have been done at lower levels, some customers are waiting for even bigger discounts and have decided to postpone purchases, bidding at very low levels.
A deal for up to 50,000 mt of Chinese billets is rumoured to have been done to Indonesia at $445/mt CFR this week. “This price is reasonable as Dexin is at $450-451/mt CFR,” one of the local importers commented. Some short position offers for 3SP billet have been heard at as low as $440/mt CFR in Indonesia and Thailand, but no other deals have been reported so far. “The Thai market is weak and China has just started dropping, so buyers are in no rush to jump in… Thai customers might test the water with extremely low bid prices at $425-430/mt CFR,” a Bangkok-based source said.
In the Philippines, trading has also been rather silent with negotiations held at $445-450/mt CFR, down from the lowest offers at $455/mt CFR last week.
The SteelOrbis reference price for import billet in Southeast Asia has settled at $440-450/mt CFR, decreasing by $5-10/mt over the past week.
In the GCC region, there has been a rumor about a contract for a sizable volume done at $460-465/mt CFR UAE, but this has been not confirmed and a number of sources said there is no demand for such a big volume at such a price. Moreover, the recent offers for Chinese billet in Saudi Arabia have been at $455/mt CFR, after the previous sale at $457/mt CFR.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-China billet stands at $425-430/mt FOB today, October 15, stable from the previous day, but down by $7.5/mt compared to late last week.
The Indonesian producer has started to offer billets for January shipment at $433/mt FOB, only slightly changed from $432/mt FOB seen early this week, and slightly down from $435/mt FOB last week. There is a rumor that some small-volume deal for December shipment was done at $430-431/mt FOB in the domestic market.