The Southeast Asian billet market has witnessed slight decline this week as weak demand and low bids have put pressure on suppliers and their attempts to increase prices have been rolled back, SteelOrbis has learned from the market.
So the general offer level for EAF/BOF billets from ASEAN mainly from traders has slipped to $535/mt CFR Manila for 3SP and $545/mt CFR Manila for 5SP, down by $5/mt over the week depending on supplier. “Some traders are ready for short selling,” a local source from the Philippines said, which is reflecting the market weakness for his view. Ex-ASEAN mills have been asking still higher - $550-555/mt CFR, though no offers at $560/mt CFR or above have been reported this week. Ex-mills prices have been assessed as not workable and not reflecting the current market with its limited demand.
Some traders have been ready to provide $530/mt CFR for 3SP billet in the Philippines, if they have a firm bid. One large long steel producer was in the market, looking for billets last week. “If they book, they will accept $530/mt CFR,” a Manila-based trader said. Another trader has also not seen any visible inquiries except that, which has gone by the end of this week.
Also there has been rumor about ex-Thailand 5SP IF billet sold to the Philippines at $530/mt CFR, which has been assessed by most market sources as too high for the customers and too low for suppliers, so it has remained unconfirmed by the time of publication. In general offers for 3SP/5SP billets in Southeast Asia by traders have been at $520-530/mt CFR.
Traders’ offers for ex-Malaysia and ex-Vietnam EAF/BOF billets to Indonesia have been coming at $540-545/mt CFR for October shipment, but received no response from buyers.
At the same time, some lower offer for a distressed cargo of ex-Iran billet for prompt shipment has emerged in Thailand at $505/mt CFR. But for September-October shipment billets, traders have been still asking for $515-520/mt CFR or just slightly below. Last week most ex-Iran offers in Southeast Asia were at $515-530/mt CFR.
The SteelOrbis reference import billet price in Southeast Asia has slipped by $5/mt on average over the week to $530-540/mt CFR versus $530-550/mt CFR last week. Market sources are not excluding further slight declines next week.