Official offers for Indonesian billet have been lowered by $3/mt compared to yesterday, June 10, to $427/mt FOB for September shipment. This signals weak sentiments in the billet segment in Asia, even though the mood in China has slightly improved today. The latest deal done by the Indonesian mill was a 50,000 mt trade at $425/mt FOB for the Middle East.
Chinese billet prices are still among the most competitive globally. “China and the US seem to have reached an agreement and this is supporting sentiments in the steel market. Market conditions [in China] are stable with some steel output cuts… but demand is still not active,” a Chinese trader noted. The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-China billet has increased slightly today - by $2.5/mt on average to $422.5/mt FOB. Firm offers have been heard at $420-425/mt FOB from different traders, while buyers have been asking for $5-10/mt discounts.
A deal for ex-Russia billet is also heard to have been done to India at $457/mt CFR for prompt shipment. Since the tradable level for August-September shipment billets in Southeast Asia and East Asia has been too low and the market has been dominated by Chinese sellers, some Russian suppliers, shipping from the Far East ports of Russia, have been trying to push volumes to other destinations. The latest deals for Chinese 3SP billet in Southeast Asia and Taiwan were at $435/mt CFR, while 5SP sales to the Philippines and Indonesia were at $438-440/mt CFR.
