Offers for import billets in Southeast Asia have again increased slightly this week, but most buyers are not in a hurry to purchase, believing that prices will soon roll back. Tradable levels and rare contracts have remained stable over the past week.
Most offers for Asian 5SP 150 mm billets have been at $450/mt CFR in the Philippines, while the more popular 130 mm billet has been available at $455/mt CFR. Though early this week even higher levels were heard, they were assessed as not reflecting the current weak market, especially as futures in China again resumed a downward correction yesterday. “Prices went up by almost $5/mt this week compared with last week. But there are signs that prices may be softening soon,” a Manila-based source said. The latest deals for 5SP 150 mm billet were heard at $445/mt CFR, done last week. Also, a contract for 3SP was rumored at $438/mt CFR in the Philippines, versus offers for this grade mainly at $445/mt CFR this week.
Offers for 3SP billet have been officially at $445-453/mt CFR in Thailand and Indonesia, but no deals have been reported so far, as “all players see the market at $435/mt CFR, so either negotiations should be at this level or there will be no negotiations at all,” a Bangkok-based source said. Offers for ex-Indonesian billet in the local market has been relatively stable at $452/mt CFR.
The SteelOrbis reference price for import billet in Southeast is at $440-450/mt CFR, inching up by $2.5/mt over the past week, and coming back to the level seen two weeks back.
Chinese export billet prices have softened today by $2.5/mt on average to $420-430/mt FOB. “The purchasing interest of construction and manufacturing industries has not significantly increased, and there is a lack of actual demand pull,” a trader noted, adding that the weakness in the coking coal and coke segments also impact sentiments.
