One of the major Southeast Asian billet exporters, Dexin Steel, based in Indonesia, has managed to conclude a deal to China early this week, as disclosed lately. This is why the producer has increased its offer prices by the end of the week and has a positive outlook for the near future.
At least 20,000 mt of billet from Dexin Steel were traded to China at $560/mt CFR earlier this week, a few sources confirmed to SteelOrbis late on Thursday. After that, offers from the producer increased to $580/mt CFR China, as reported yesterday. There are rumours that the company has already managed to sell another lot to Asia at this level, but this has not been confirmed by the time of publication. Nevertheless, most sources agree that further transactions will be done not below $580/mt CFR.
As SteelOrbis reported earlier, a Vietnamese mill has already managed to book 30,000 mt at $565/mt FOB or $575/mt CFR to China. “But it is a little difficult to understand this level. It is higher than our local position materials’ price. Maybe it is for future sales,” a Chinese trader commented. With the current sharp increase in raw material prices, iron ore and scrap in particular, most market participants expect prices for billet in China will remain supported.
Southeast Asian billet is not subject to 2.5 percent import duty in China.