A small increase in billet offer prices in the import market in Southeast Asia has been recorded this week amid the absence of very aggressive prices for Chinese origin material. However, the market has been on pause as buyers doubt the sustainability of the latest price changes.
Offers for 5SP billet from traders to the Philippines have been at $495-500/mt CFR, versus most offers and deals at $489-495/mt CFR Manila last week. “There are still offers at below $500/mt CFR. I do not consider this to be a firm trend,” a Manila-based trader said. Another source commented, “Traders are trying to raise Chinese prices by approximately $5/mt over last week’s prices. But I do not know if they are achieving success.”
Also, offers for 3SP billet in Indonesia and Thailand have been reported at $490/mt CFR and above, while last week negotiations for this grade were at $486-487/mt CFR.
“Bids from Southeast Asia are at around $490/mt for billet, meaning $470-475/mt FOB should work for China, Indonesia and Vietnam origins, if they [mills] want to sell,” a Singapore-based source said.
The SteelOrbis reference price for imported billet in Southeast Asia has increased to $490-500/mt CFR with the midpoint at $495/mt CFR, up by $4.5/mt on average from last week.
“The top meeting [in China] ended today with some resolutions, but the logic does not change much, and the slow demand season will bring more pressure on prices, even though steel output [in early July] and inventory both declined,” a Chinese trader said. On July 18, the day when the Third Plenary Session of the 20th National Committee of the Communist Party of China finished, rebar futures in China declined by 0.82 percent compared to the previous day, signaling that the effect of the official meeting is limited, at least for now. The summary of the plenum released today has been very general mentioning “the need to address risks in the property market and other threats to the economy”, but no further details have been disclosed yet.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-China billet has remained stable at $470-480/mt FOB, while offers from ASEAN-based mills, like Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia, have been confirmed again at $480-490/mt FOB.
