Billet prices in Southeast Asia have declined again this week, but customers are still cautious as regards purchases of large quantities. As a result, traditional billet exporters in the region have turned more to sales to China, trying to release volumes faster. Billets in Asia have been offered at $400-405/mt CFR this week, $5/mt down over the past week.
About 50,000 mt of Russian billet have been sold in Asia at $400-405/mt CFR for November shipment, out of which 30,000 mt have been traded to China, SteelOrbis has been informed. “I doubt that Southeast Asian big buyers have been purchasing big volumes recently. China has been active in requests so, if freight is ok from the Far East ports of Russia, it is better to sell there, I suppose,” an Asian trader said.
Indian suppliers have been also trying to accelerate sales, focusing on China. There has been a rumor that one of the mills in India has sold about 70,000 mt of billets to a large Chinese trader at also above $400/mt CFR: However, SteelOrbis has not received confirmation of this information by the time of publication.
Offers for ex-Russia and ex-India billet have been heard in the Philippines at $405/mt CFR this week, versus $405-410/mt CFR last week.
Some sources in Indonesia and Thailand have been saying that customers can get offers at $395-400/mt CFR if they will buy, but, as the market has been falling for such a long time, they prefer to wait and see. Suppliers have been also cautious about giving firm offers at below $400/mt CFR.