Overall sentiments in the Southeast Asian billet market have worsened this week as demand has been subdued and customers have been waiting for lower prices, seeing the downtrend in the scrap segment. The lowest offers in the market have been heard from the newcomer Indonesian Dexin Steel, which started operations late last month.
Offers for billet produced by Dexin Steel have been at $410-415/mt CFR Thailand and $415/mt CFR Manila this week, which has been assessed by major market sources as the lowest in the market so far. Customers in Indonesia have said that this level is similar to what they can find in the local market as well. Some sources said that billet from Dexin Steel has been offered by traders, who are giving financial support to the new producer.
Vietnam suppliers have also been among the most active recently, offering $420-425/mt CFR to the Philippines. According to one source, there has been a deal for 15,000-20,000 mt done at $415-420/mt CFR Manila, but this information has not been confirmed by the time of publication.
Offers from other suppliers have been mainly at $420-425/mt CFR to different Southeast Asian countries. EAF billet from South Korea has been available at $420/mt CFR Manila. Traders have been offering ex-India billet at $417-420/mt CFR Indonesia recently. Ex-Russia billet offers have been heard at $420-425/mt CFR.
As a result of the lower prices from Indonesian and Vietnamese exporters, this week the SteelOrbis reference price for import billet in Southeast Asia has declined by $5/mt to $410-420/mt CFR.