Prices for ex-ASEAN billet have been moving sideways compared to last week and only rare deals have been reported in the market done at the previous levels. Such stability has been supported by the Chinese market, which has been fluctuating recently and not showing signs of any visible decline, even though overall demand in Asia has remained limited, SteelOrbis has learned from the market on July 18.
This week, official offers from the main Indonesian mill have been at $505/mt FOB, according to a number of sources. And late last week one deal was reported as having been done at $500/mt FOB, though the final sales destination remained unclear by the time of publication.
At the same time, ex-China billet offers have also remained stable compared to late last week - at $500-510/mt FOB, with the midpoint at $505/mt FOB. “Now you can get offers from the ASEAN region and China at the same prices, but the market is quiet in terms of trading,” a trader said. “I can have $500/mt FOB for Chinese billets. The gap with Indonesia is almost zero,” another trading source said.
In Southeast Asia’s import billet market, the reference price has stayed at $518-520/mt CFR as there are still many offers from traders for open origin billet (ASEAN or China) at $620/mt CFR Manila. Buyers are waiting for lower levels at $510-515/mt CFR, but, since there is no weakness on the suppliers’ side, no new deals have been reported so far.
However, the leading Far East Russia mill has been more successful. At least one deal has been closed at $505-510/mt CFR Taiwan, according to sources, which is almost in line with the last week’s tradable level of $510/mt CFR, but slightly below the mill’s previous offers at $515-520/mt CFR.
Moreover, there is talk in the market that some of the large Russian mills from the Black Sea region may try to resume offers to the Asian market, since the price levels in Turkey have fallen significantly and demand has stayed low. For instance, the current reference price for ex-Black Sea billets is at $450-470/mt FOB, which can translate at the lowest to $510/mt CFR in Asia. “Theoretically they can offer, but they need to ship big vessels like 40,000-50,000 mt, and it will be hard to find a buyer for such a quantity here,” a trader from Singapore said.
The average domestic billet price in China has been at RMB 3,543/mt ex-warehouse, moving up slightly be RMB 25/mt ($3/mt) over the past week. This level translates to $439/mt, excluding 13 percent VAT. So, the reference price for imported billet in China has remained stable at last week’s levels of $435-440/mt CFR.
$1 = RMB 7.1453