Prices for imported billets have posted further increases this week, but most negotiations have been held in the Philippines with traders who took positions from ASEAN mills earlier, while bids are lagging far behind offers from mills. In Indonesia and Thailand, buyers have a lack of offers due to the much lower allocation from Iran, and so they can choose local sourcing as an option for now, SteelOrbis has learned from the market on January 19.
The latest deal for ex-Vietnam 5SP billet has been reported to the Philippines at $595/mt CFR, which is up from bids at $580-585/mt CFR last week. Some other negotiations with a trader for ex-ASEAN billet have been held at $590/mt CFR, but there has been no confirmation about a signing of a deal before the time of publication. “The Philippine buyers are negotiating at $590-595/mt CFR, while sellers want much more. I think there will be a stalemate. We will know the situation better after the Chinese New Year break,” a buyer from Manila said. A trader from the Philippines also added that he believes that bids are at $600/mt CFR at the highest now in the country, versus general offers at $630/mt CFR.
“New offers from Dexin are equivalent to $640/mt CFR for March shipment. But, of course, there's going to be no interest. Traders are still holding positions at the moment at lower levels,” a Singapore-based trader said.
The SteelOrbis reference price for imported billet in Southeast Asia has settled at $590-605/mt CFR, with the midpoint at $597.5/mt CFR. This level is slightly down by $2.5/mt on average from that last week as the reference price was at $580-620/mt CFR, where the high end included wire rod grade billet deal, usually excluded from the reference price, but which was not known that time.
In Thailand, offers from some traders for ex-Iran billet have been as high as $580-585/mt CFR this week, while last week they were at $560-570/mt CFR. Some market sources said that levels a bit lower at $560/mt CFR for February-March shipment have been available early this week, but for now most sources believe that they are not there anymore and most probably were just traders’ testing market offers, without real volumes to offer. While the allocation from Iran has been very limited even at higher prices, buyers in Indonesia and Thailand have very few options. Some buyers in Thailand have been choosing local IF billets, which were priced at “$580/mt import parity, but with short lead times, small tonnages, low risk,” a local source from Bangkok said.