Trading activity in Southeast Asia’s import billet market has remained rather limited especially for Asian origins as prices are relatively stable from the previous week, while buyers are waiting for a further reduction. So, most trading in the import market has been for sanctioned ex-Iran and ex-Russia billets, which are cheaper.
Offers for 3SP and 5SP billet to the Philippines have been at $460-466/mt CFR, just slightly down from $460-470/mt CFR seen a week ago. “No one is selling below $460/mt CFR, futures are down and then up in China, so traders don’t want to risk,” a local source said. “It's better to sit and watch which way the steel market is going. For steel billets, the price will most likely continue to drift downwards in the days ahead. Until there is a real cutback of 50 million mt of steel capacity in China this year, there is very little chance of a price recovery. Demand remains weak everywhere,” a Manila-based re-roller said. The buyers’ target prices in the Philippines are still at $455/mt CFR at best.
In Indonesia and Thailand, ex-Asia 3SP billets are on offer at $455-460/mt CFR, with no new deals reported. At the same time, a deal for a sizable lot of ex-Iran 3SP billet was signed in Thailand at $445/mt CFR last week. This level is in line with what reported last week, but it attracted some interest as it is among the lowest in the market nowadays.
In addition, the leading mill in Russia’s Far East region has managed to sell over 100,000 mt of billets to Taiwan at $448-449/mt CFR for May-June shipment. The price is just slightly changed from the previous sales to the same destination at $449-450/mt CFR.
The SteelOrbis reference price for import billet in Southeast Asia has been stable over the past week at $455-460/mt CFR, as it excludes prices for sanctioned materials from Iran and Russia.
