Though in general buying activity in Southeast Asia’s import billet market has been rather weak, sales of Russian billet have remained active over a wider geography, even though Russian material is sanctioned.
There has been talk in the market about a sale of 35,000-40,000 mt of Russian billet to Thailand at $440/mt CFR or slightly below this level. This is almost in line with the previous sales of Russian billet to Taiwan at $435-443/mt CFR done over the past two weeks for up to 100,000 mt. “Buyers were looking for below $440/mt FOB last week and it seems the deal was done,” a local source said. Another trader has confirmed that this material had been offered by a Chinese trader for some time and, even though Thailand is not a traditional market for Russia, the low price attracted attention. Market sources agree that the material will be shipped from a Far Eastern port of Russia as the price level in the Black Sea is at much higher levels - at over $440/mt FOB.
Offers of most Asian origins have been at least $20/mt higher. In particular, traders have been giving offers at $455-460/mt CFR for 3SP open origin Asian billets in Thailand late this week.