Though overall demand for import billet in Southeast Asia has remained poor, some deals for ex-Iran billet have been reported lately, especially given the high offer prices seen from Chinese and ASEAN exporters.
Around 40,000 mt of ex-Iran 5SP billet are reported to have been sold to Indonesia at $450/mt CFR. Considering some extras for 5SP grade, the base 3SP grade price has been assessed at $445/mt CFR in this deal. This means that even sanctioned suppliers have managed to achieve higher prices, as the previous sale for Iranian 3SP billet was done to Thailand at $435-440/mt CFR a week ago.
A few local importers in Southeast Asia have confirmed that such high-volume deals are rare at the moment and are mainly due to “the need to restock”, as one of the sources said. “Offers are high and demand is tepid. Ex-China 3SP billet offers are above $455/mt CFR in Southeast Asia now, up steadily from $440-450/mt CFR [in previous rounds],” a Singapore-based source said.
The Russian mill has been not very active recently and its tradable level is assessed as being not above $445/mt CFR Taiwan.