Offer prices for billet to Southeast Asia have been heard at a higher level this week as suppliers have seen a growing appetite in China and higher bids there. But sentiment in Southeast Asia has remained bearish and customers have not been ready to accept any visible increase. As a result, trading has stalled with too big a gap between offers and bids.
Customers in the Philippines have been receiving offers at $407-410/mt CFR lately, which is a $5-7/mt increase compared to last week. But a number of sources said that they have not seen any increase for now as many sellers have decided to withdraw offers, seeing more opportunities in China, where bids have already reached $410/mt CFR. Bids from the Philippines are still at $397-400/mt CFR, re-rollers have confirmed. “The market is not good here due to the rainy season. Moreover, we are just restarting work, many construction projects are still on hold,” a Manila-based importer said. Some improvements are expected in late July-early August, sources have said.
Offers to Thailand from the CIS and India have been heard at $407-408/mt CFR in the middle of the week, while the tradable value has been at $400-405/mt CFR.
Thai customers were targeting $390/mt CFR for Iranian billet early this week and some traders’ offers were at $395/mt CFR. But at the moment there are no any prices for Iranian billet at below $400/mt CFR in Thailand as a cargo from Iran was sold to China at this level last week and bids have already increased further this week.
SteelOrbis has increased its weekly reference price for imported billet in Southeast Asia by $7.5/mt on average to $405/mt CFR.
