Billet prices in the Southeast Asian market have decreased further this week by $5-10/mt to $420-425/mt CFR as customers have been cautious about purchases, asking for lower prices, and scrap prices have falling, putting pressure on sentiments.
Buyers from the Philippines have booked a few lots of billet from Russia (Far Eastern ports) at $425/mt CFR this week, while offers from India have been coming at the same level. However, bid prices have already fallen to $420/mt CFR at a maximum, SteelOrbis is informed. Buyers are still focusing on purchases of small batches, expecting a further price drop.
About 20,000 mt of Indian billet have been sold by a trader at $420/mt CFR to Thailand, about $5/mt below the previous transactions. Moreover, some customers in Indonesia have confirmed that they can get $415/mt CFR at the moment, but no information about deals at such a level have been heard by the time of publication.
Nevertheless, there has been a report in the market, later confirmed by the seller, that one of the major Indian mills has just closed an export tender for 125 mm billet on Thursday, September 5, with the winning bid at $380/mt FOB. This price is much lower than the previous bookings at $395-400/mt FOB and corresponds to about $405-415/mt CFR Southeast Asia.
Nominal prices for Iranian billet have been assessed by market participants at $400-405/mt CFR Southeast Asia, $10/mt below last week’s level, but no firm offers have been heard by the time of publication.