Prices for import billet in Taiwan have continued to follow a downtrend in line with what is happening in Southeast Asia. A new deal for ex-Russia billet has been reported at a price $7/mt below the previous transaction price.
In particular, "a sizable lot" of billet from Russia’s Far East region was traded at $565/mt CFR early this week, SteelOrbis has learned from the market, which is down from the $572/mt CFR deal done for short position ex-Indonesia material early last week. The producer was offering at $575/mt CFR to Taiwan last week, and, seeing the rapidly falling market, it was rushing to sell before a new low would be reached, sources have said.
After this deal and lower offers seen in the market at $560-565/mt CFR, Taiwanese buyers have been assessing price ideas at $555-556/mt CFR if they need to restock. Some traders believe that customers may push down to $550/mt CFR. “The market is lousy and traders have to liquidate stocks,” a trader commented.
