Offer prices for Asian billet have continued to increase this week amid rather stable conditions in China, small futures gains, and sizable sales seen from Indonesia last week.
Ex-Indonesia billet offers for March have settled at $440/mt FOB from Monday this week, up by $8/mt from the offer level seen late last week. The mill managed to sell up to 100,000 mt of billets and at least 50,000 mt of slabs last week. The billet sales price was at $432/mt FOB - mainly for the Turkish market, but a part of the volume was for a trader’s long position. Other ASEAN exporters have remained inactive - there have been no firm offers from Malaysia, while the indicative level for ex-Vietnam billet has been heard at $438-440/mt FOB.
The ex-China billet reference price has increased by $5/mt since late last week to $430-440/mt FOB, with most offers seen at $435-440/mt FOB today. “I don’t think there is demand [at price] above $430/mt FOB. That is why trading is quiet. Traders may give $435/mt FOB, but mills are even higher,” a Chinese trader commented. One of the international traders confirmed that last week the tradable level for ex-China billet was at around $430/mt FOB and lower. "Some deals were done. This week prices have moved up too sharply for buyers to accept them," he added.
The Chinese billet market has been from stable to slightly higher recently, supported by stable production after some previous decreases, high raw material prices, and the appreciation of the local currency. “The steel market will be influenced more by macro news and there are not many drivers, so prices will change within a very small range,” another source noted.
