Prices for import billet in Southeast Asia have posted some slight rises over the past week, but overall market conditions have been inactive due to the holidays. Offers for ex-Iran billet have remained the lowest in the market.
The latest Asian offers for 5SP billet to the Philippines have been at $465/mt CFR Manila and above, versus $460-461/mt CFR seen late last week. However, the tradable level is still not above $455/mt CFR, and most buyers have been out of the market. “Manila[‘s market] is silent, and not because of the [billet] price but overall demand and the holidays,” a trader said.
Offers for 3SP for open Asian origin have been assessed at $460/mt CFR in the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand. “Indonesia is now entering a long holiday until April 7, so there is no news for billets. Iran will also be on holiday,” a Jakarta-based source said. Early this week, offers for Iranian billets were heard at $452-453/mt CFR to Thailand and Indonesia, up from the previous deal done at $447/mt CFR to Indonesia a week ago.
One of the Russian mills has been targeting $460/mt CFR in Southeast Asia, but the highest possible price for the sanctioned material would be $450/mt CFR, sources have said.
The SteelOrbis reference price for import billet in Southeast Asia has settled at $455-460/mt CFR, up by $5/mt over the past week.