Buyers from Southeast Asia have accepted higher billet prices in the latest deal reported at $800/mt CFR to the Philippines. At the same time, sales of ex-Russia billet have also continued this week, though freight rates from Russia’s Far East ports have increased much and not all banks are ready to work with this material.
A sale for 6,000 mt of ex-Japan 5SP EAF billet has been done at $800/mt CFR to the Philippines recently, which means buyers have accepted an offer heard earlier in the week and increased their bids heard at $770-780/mt CFR.
Also, 20,000 mt of ex-Thailand high manganese billet have been sold to the Philippines at $770/mt FOB, translating to about $815-820/mt CFR. This deal price includes extras up to $15/mt.
New offers have been heard from some buyers in the Philippines at $820-830/mt CFR, mainly for ex-ASEAN billet.
In addition, there has been information that sales from Russia’s Far East region have continued in the Asian market. After a deal to the Philippines at $760/mt CFR late last week, contracts have been reported to the Philippines again, Taiwan, Thailand and some other buyers at $765-780/mt CFR this week. Though prices have increased, a number of difficulties in trading of ex-Russia billet have remained. In particular, freight rates have increased much - to around $50-60/mt from the Far East ports of Russia, versus $30-35/mt before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and not all vessel owners agree to go to Russian ports, even in the Far East.
“Not all Asian banks are ready to accept [LC for] Russian material… mostly Singapore or Hong Kong banks seem to be rejecting any document mentioning Russia or Russian goods,” a source told SteelOrbis.
Also, there is caution among Asian buyers and traders as more talks about secondary sanctions on the companies that are working with Russia now may be imposed.