The situation in the Southeast Asian billet market has not improved much over the past week, though two deals, by trading houses, have been reported at a slightly higher level. End-users in Southeast Asia have been mostly quiet.
Offer prices for Indian and Russian billet have been at $403-405/mt CFR Manila, while bids have remained closer to $400/mt CFR, sources have said. Last week, the tradable value for import billet in the Philippines was at $400-405/mt CFR, according to SteelOrbis.
A few re-rolling mills have received offers for induction billet from Vietnam at $400/mt CFR, but the signing of a deal has not been confirmed by the time of publication. Blast furnace-based mills from Vietnam have been offering at above $405/mt CFR Manila. “Market sentiments are the same as last week,” a local source from Manila said.
As SteelOrbis reported earlier this week, two lots of Indian billet were sold to traders at $407/mt CFR for the Taiwanese market. But most end-users said that this level is not workable in Southeast Asia.
The latest offer of Indian billet to Indonesia has been at $405/mt CFR, with no new bookings done. Indonesia-based steel producer Dexin Steel has not been active in offering in the domestic market, as it is better for the mill to sell to China, sources believe. Earlier this month, a lot of billet from this exporter was traded to China at about $415/mt CFR, according to sources.
Iranian suppliers have increased offers for billet to above $400/mt CFR to Thai customers, while last week a deal was signed at $399/mt CFR.