Ex-ASEAN billet prices remained the most competitive in the region last week and mills managed to conclude a number of deals, but mills from Southeast Asia have now joined the uptrend and increased their offers, SteelOrbis has learned from the market on November 15.
Around 30,000 mt of ex-Vietnam BF 150 mm 5SP billet have been reported as having been sold to Southeast Asia at $505-508/mt CFR. A part of this volume has already been traded to a end-user in Indonesia, according to market sources, while another part is still held by the trader. This price level has been assessed as being relatively low. But after the previous sales, the Vietnamese supplier may be a little less eager to sell, according to sources, and most offers for ex-ASEAN 5SP billet have been reported at hardly below $510/mt CFR in Indonesia and $515/mt CFR is the lower level heard in the Philippines for the same grade.
Only some traders have been offering ex-Iran billet in short position at $505/mt CFR Indonesia, which is assessed as being mainly out of the range of interest of Iranian mills as well as of that of buyers in Indonesia.
In addition, there has been information that a deal for 10,000 mt of ex-Indonesia BF billet was done to Thailand at $505-510/mt CFR early last week. Though overall demand in Thailand has remained weak, the low offers from China disappeared last week, which led to this purchase of ex-Indonesia material.
“Sales from ASEAN-based BF mills make sense as scrap prices are still very high,” a trader said.
No new deals have been reported to the Philippines since late last week, but the SteelOrbis reference price for imported billet in Southeast Asia has increased by $5/mt from the lower end of the range last week to $505-515/mt CFR now. “There are no short position offers from traders now, so even to find $505/mt CFR [for 3SP] will be a challenge,” a Southeast Asian source said. “There are even some offers up to $520/mt CFR [Thailand],” a local source said, commenting on the new offers for 5SP billet from the ASEAN region.
