Though the billet trading has been at low levels in Southeast Asia this week and prices from mills in the major market of the Philippines have remained relatively stable, the bearish moods have continued to prevail. A number of deals for stressed cargoes from traders, who are in a hurry to sell redirected volumes from China, have been reported to Thailand and Indonesia at very low prices.
In the Philippines, most offers from mills have been still at $660/mt CFR this week and even though some sellers have been ready to provide $650-655/mt CFR in negotiations, no new deals have been reported so far. Last week the major steel producer in the country bought two cargoes at $660-670/mt CFR for Manila and Cebu from mills. “There is actually not much change in prices between last week and this week for IF, EAF & BOF billets,” one of the major re-rollers said.
Offers for IF billet to the Philippines have been reported at $645-650/mt CFR this week. A deal at $655/mt CFR for ex-Thailand IF billet has been heard in the market, but most market participants agree that this deal should be old or speculative. “I really doubt anybody would buy it now. As of noon time, there was an offer of $645/mt CFR for IF to the market,” a local trader from Manila said.
At the same time, in Indonesia and Thailand, prices have been reported at much lower levels for stressed cargoes. In Indonesia, two traders’ position cargoes for 10,000 mt each were sold to Indonesia last week. One of them changed hands at $640-645/mt CFR, according to sources, but another one was done at lower level.
On Tuesday this week ex-India 3sp billet from a trader was booked at as low as $618/mt CFR Indonesia, SteelOrbis has learned. Moreover, some offers for ex-India stressed cargoes have already started to come at closer to $600/mt CFR, sources have said.
A contract for 20,000 mt of ex-CIS billet (will be shipped from Black Sea) was done to Thailand at $620/mt CFR or slightly above yesterday, according to a number of sources.
These latest deals for stressed cargoes have pushed the targeted level of buyers to $620/mt CFR this week or even below. “We have to wait for these tonnages to go away,” a major exporting mill to SE Asia said, adding that the market was full of not only Indian material, but also ex-CIS billets, redirected from China.
The SteelOrbis reference price for imported billet in Southeast Asia, has been settled at $620-650/mt CFR this week, where the lower end corresponds to the general deal level for stressed cargoes, while the higher end price represents the tradable level for the mills’ cargoes. The price is $20/mt below last week's average level.