Billet importers in the Philippines and Thailand have concluded a number of deals for Indian, Russian and Iranian material. Contract prices are unchanged or slightly below last week’s levels.
A cargo of 20,000 mt of Indian billet in total has been sold this week, in which 10,000 mt of 5SP billet was priced at $403/mt CFR, while 10,000 mt of 3SP was priced at $400/mt CFR. The majority of offers for Indian billet were closer to $405/mt CFR earlier this week. Also, sales of Indian 5SP billet have been rumored at $405/mt CFR to the Philippines and Thailand, but they have not been confirmed by the time of publication and there have been no details of the contracts.
Also, 24,000 mt of Russian billet has been traded at $400/mt CFR Manila for August shipment, SteelOrbis has confirmed. Last week, a deal for Russian billet was reported at $405/mt CFR, though some extras up to $5/mt were included.
30,000 mt of Iranian billet have been traded at $397/mt CFR to Thailand, which is $2/mt below the previous contract last week.
The absence of Chinese customers in the market late this week due to holidays has supported customers in Southeast Asia in their attempts to get favorable prices. At the same time, sources reported that many long steel producers in the Philippines have been taking wait-and-see positions in the billet market, expecting an acceleration of construction activity.