Most offers for import billet in Southeast Asia have been stable over the past week despite some slight attempts for increase early this week. Moreover, by now, a few traders have decided to voice lower offers in short position as they expect prices to fluctuate in the limited range in China or will slightly go down in the rest of September.
Despite reports about higher offers for 150 mm 5SP billets from China to the Philippines at $460/mt CFR, by Thursday, most of them have returned to $452-455/mt CFR, almost the same as last week. There is “no buying as there is no trend in the market,” a local source said. Most buyers are waiting for $450/mt CFR for this size and grade. No cheaper alternative origin offers have been reported to the country. As SteelOrbis reported early this week, one of the Russian mills sold a cargo of 26,000 mt of 125 mm billet at $432/mt FOB Far East ports of Russia, which translates to $455/mt on CFR basis or slightly above. Though overall supply of 130 mm billets is still limited, bids have been softening in line with the market mood.
In Thailand, most offers for 3SP 150 mm billets for Asian origins were at $460/mt CFR first and at $455/mt CFR today, but buyers’ price ideas have fallen even further and buyers are targeting all below $450/mt CFR for both 3SP and 5SP.
One of Indonesian buyers mentioned that since Wednesday, some traders have become more aggressive and can give below $450/mt CFR for Chinese 3SP, if there is a firm bid.
As a result, the SteelOrbis reference price for import billet in SE Asia has been at $447-455/mt CFR versus $450-455/mt CFR.
Such weak market sentiments in SE Asia have been based on slower-than-expected performance of the Chinese market. “Chinese market has been stable recently and demand does not speed up in the beginning of autumn. Unluckily, the inventories had been up in last 7 weeks,” a Chinese trader said. Though the reference price for ex-China billet is stable at $430-440/mt FOB, some sellers may consider a few dollars below $430/mt FOB, though no new deals have been reported so far.
