The price trend in the billet export market in Asia has been lacking direction over the past week as, on the one hand, there have been tentative positive signs in China, while, on the other hand, if Asian suppliers want to achieve sales, they have had to provide some discounts.
Official offer levels from the Indonesian mill have been at $485/mt FOB as of early this week, similar to what the market saw a week ago, being “not workable at all in all the markets,” as a Singapore-based trader said. Late last week, with a few buyers negotiations were held at a lower level - at $470/mt FOB, but an offer has returned to the previous level as allocation has been limited to February shipment. “We are focused on other products. A deal for wire rod was done at $500/mt FOB to the local market,” an official at a mill has commented.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-China billet has settled at $460-480/mt FOB, increasing by $5/mt on average since late last week with the higher end adding $10/mt. Most offers from China have been at $470-480/mt FOB for 3SP and 5SP. “I didn’t hear deals [on FOB basis from China]. The mood in the market has improved slightly, but it really depends on what we will see in the near future,” a large Chinese trader said.
At the same time, ex-Japan billet has been sold to Taiwan at $470-475/mt CFR for commercial grades, while last week the lowest offers for Chinese origin from traders in short position were at $475-480/mt CFR. Chinese offers to the Philippines for 5SP are still at $485-490/mt CFR, similar to last week.