Sentiment in Asia’s import billet market has worsened further as more offers of induction furnace made (IF) billet have emerged at lower prices. The gap between EAF/BOF billet and IF billet has reached $20/mt.
Offers for ex-Vietnam and ex-Malaysia IF billet have been coming at $655/mt CFR to the Philippines, while prices for ex-India IF billet have declined to $650/mt CFR, according to sources. Last week, deals for ex-ASEAN IF billet were done at $660-665/mt CFR, as reported by SteelOrbis. A fresh $10/mt decrease in this segment has made the market even more bearish as suppliers of EAF/BF are under bigger pressure now. “[There are] many offers for IF billet. Prices are reasonable. But offers of BF billet are scarce,” an Asian trading source said.
The latest offers for ex-ASEAN EAF/BF billets have been reported at $675-680/mt CFR to Southeast Asia and the tradable level was $670-675/mt CFR last week. As the usual difference between IF and EAF/BF billet prices is $10/mt, customers will demand further discounts from suppliers, sources believe.
Chinese customers have also received offers for IF billet at $650/mt CFR, though no deal has been reported so far.
Steel mills in Tangshan have slightly lowered local billet prices by RMB 20/mt ($3/mt) from Friday to RMB 4,890/mt ($756/mt) ex-works, which corresponds to $669/mt, excluding 13 percent VAT.