The overall situation in the Asian billet export market has improved this week with some slight increases seen in the Chinese local and export markets, while ASEAN mills have also been more confident after selling some April shipment tonnages.
The major Indonesian mill has managed to sell over 50,000 mt since late last week. Most of the volume was traded at $433/mt FOB on Monday, while at least one deal has been signed at $438/mt FOB today. This means that, after cutting offers by $7/mt last week to $438/mt FOB on Friday, the Indonesian mill has managed to attract demand from traders. “$433/mt FOB has already become too low a price for now. $438/mt FOB is the lowest level if we talk about today,” a Singapore-based trader said. “China’s offers are already at $442-443/mt FOB, so Indonesian sales look reasonable,” another trader said.
Most of the recent positions traders have taken from ASEAN mills will not go not the Asian markets, where the gap between offers and bids has become wider recently. “There is zero interest from buyers [in Southeast Asia] since coming back from the Chinese New Year,” an international trader said. Bids from Indonesian customers for Asian EAF/BOF billets have been at $445-450/mt CFR at the highest, while Thai buyers assess the market at not above $440/mt CFR. “I haven't heard any single serious bid from clients in the Philippines,” an Asian source said, while offers for 5SP billets have been at $460-465/mt CFR Manila at the lowest.
One deal for ex-Vietnam billet is rumoured to have been done to India, but the information has remained unconfirmed by the time of publication and market sources said it is hard to believe that the final price was above $455-460/mt CFR.
The ex-China reference price has increased by $2.5/mt on average since Friday to $435-445/mt FOB. Though the tradable level has been assessed by market sources at $435-438/mt FOB, offers have exceeded $440/mt FOB, sources said. The improvement in the Chinese steel market happened early this week after futures rebounded amid the gradual revival in demand and expectations of more stimulus measures to be announced soon.