Offer price for ex-Indonesia billet has been at $440/mt FOB for October by the end of this week, up by $5/mt from Wednesday, but stable from late last week. This increase has been triggered by further rise in Chinese steel futures and local prices.
Ex-China billet export price has increased by $2.5/mt over the week to $430-440/mt FOB. With the recent production cuts in Tangshan and increases in rebar futures, average local billet price in China has added RMB 30/mt ($4/mt) over a day to RMB 2,993/mt ($419/mt) ex-warehouse on July 18. “I would say that if you have a serious bid, you still can get $430/mt FOB from China, but most offers are higher now,” a Singapore-based trader said.
Though moods have been positive in China and in whole Asia, trading in the SE Asian import market has been almost halted. Offers for 5SP billet to the Philippines have been at $450-460/mt CFR with some sources said that a level of $450/mt CFR is possible only from traders having positions and it is rare at the moment. Most buyers in the Philippines are not ready to pay above $440/mt CFR. Offers for 3SP billets in Indonesia and Thailand have been at $450-455/mt CFR with no deals done.
The SteelOrbis reference price for import billet in SE Asia has remained stable at $445-455/mt CFR.
Slab prices from ASEAN mills have been rather stable. Ex-Indonesia slabs have been on offer at $440/mt FOB for October shipment, while ex-Vietnam slabs have been priced at $445/mt CFR, similar to the previous deals to India and Europe.
$1 = RMB 7.1498