SE Asian billet imports have started to be more active in purchases after pause for a few weeks, as they have achieved lower prices from traders, in line with expectations.
In particular, around 10,000 mt of Asian 5SP 130 mm billet have been traded at $447-450/mt CFR Manila late this week. This size has been among the most popular and has around $2-5/mt extra compared to 5SP 150 mm billets. This means that buyers have managed to get $5-10/mt discounts from the previous offers at $450-455/mt CFR reported earlier this week. A few market sources confirmed that offers for 5SP 150 mm have been coming at below a $450/mt CFR mark for a few days, after futures in China have fallen again. “China is reportedly planning more monetary stimulus to increase demand, but before positive effects start to grow in China, the steel market seems to have suddenly dropped in price again,” a Manila-based source said.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-China billet has been at $415-430/mt FOB on Friday, losing another $2.5/mt over a day.
Also, there have been reports about a sale for ex-Russia 125 mm billet to the Philippines, but the final price level has not been confirmed by the time of publication with market sources assessing it at around $440-445/mt CFR.
Trading activity in the import market in Indonesia and Thailand has failed to improve much, but negotiations are ongoing, according to market sources, and buyers try to achieve below $440/mt CFR for Chinese 3SP. “We didn’t see confirmed booking at $437/mt CFR, but this level is reasonable right now,” an Indonesian importer said. Offers for 3SP billet have been at $445-450/mt CFR early this week, but lost $5/mt by the end of the week.
The SteelOrbis reference price for import billet in SE Asia has been lowered by $4/mt over the week to $437-450/mt CFR with the midpoint at $443.5/mt CFR.