Plenty of position cargoes are still available in the Southeast Asian billet market and the latest deals have been reported to Thailand, Indonesia and Taiwan at $660/mt CFR, at the lower end of the price range reported on Monday, November 1. At the same time, trading has remained poor to the Philippines, with only some low-priced offers seen there. Most market sources believe that prices for billet in Asia will keep sliding, as there is no improvement in China.
A contract for 20,000 mt of 3SP 150 mm ex-CIS (Black Sea) billet has been signed by a trader to Thailand at $660/mt CFR for prompt shipment. “This is what was purchased for China - no chance to get [such] offers from mills,” an Asian trader said.
Also, this price level has been fixed in contracts for position cargoes to Taiwan (for unknown origin for now) and Indonesia (for 15,000 mt of Indian billet). Another deal at $660/mt CFR for ex-Middle East billet has been rumoured to Thailand, but this could not be confirmed by the time of publication.
But at the same time there have been no fresh trades to the Philippines, according to market sources. While mills have been mainly asking for $680-690/mt CFR Manila, offers for redirected billet cargos for various origins have been at $665-680/mt CFR Manila. Also, offers for IF billet from Thailand have been reported at $660-665/mt CFR and at the same level from Myanmar. But even at the “bottom line no one is buying,” a local trader said. Most market sources believe that prices have not reached the bottom yet.
SteelOrbis has further lowered the reference price for import billet in Southeast Asia by 2.5/mt on average from the level reported on Monday and by $17.5/mt since last week to $660-670/mt CFR.