The leading Indonesian mill has started to offer billets to the export market for September shipment and has increased offers by $5/mt after sizable trades done last week. New offer price level is $435/mt FOB for billets, compared to $430/mt FOB last week.
According to market sources, at least 240,000-250,000 mt of billets were sold by the mill last week and the trade price level was near $428-430/mt FOB in most deals. This time, a large amount (80,000 mt) was for Vietnam as some major local mills in the country were buying billets instead of producing their own billets, which is not that common for this market. Also, some volumes were purchased for Southeast Asian market, at least 40,000 mt, market sources believe. Also, a big volume of Asian billet for August shipment was traded to Saudi Arabia at $458/mt CFR, and, though some sources said it was Chinese billet, according to market information a trader may replace it with Indonesian origin material. A small lot of Indonesian billet was also confirmed for the Turkish market, but much less than rumored in the market previously.
At the same time, offers for Indonesian slabs are still at $440/mt FOB on May 26, and there is still availability for August shipment. Only one deal for a sizable lot of slabs was confirmed to have been done to the US at $440/mt FOB.
At the same time, overall sentiments in the Asian billet export market have not improved yet, with the Chinese billet reference price at $420-430/mt FOB, versus $425-430/mt FOB late last week. “Conditions in the Chinese market are almost the same - steel output is on high side and demand is slower as rains have started, so export prices can’t improve,” a Chinese source said