Although import billet offers have increased in the Southeast Asian market after the holidays last week amid the bullish market in China and the rises in the export prices of mill in the ASEAN region, the tradable levels for import billet in Asia have failed to improve. Demand has been almost fully focused on traders who are taking positions from mills, anticipating better demand and further rises in May.
The SteelOrbis reference price in Southeast Asia has remained at $500-510/mt CFR over the past week, though offers for 3SP and 5SP billet have increased to $510-530/mt CFR depending on the market and the supplier, up by at least $10-20/mt from before the holidays. Some traders who took positions earlier from mills at below $490/mt FOB may offer at the lower end of the range - $510-515/mt CFR, while offers from mills for June shipment and just recently taken positions are at $525-530/mt CFR, especially for 5SP. “But the price idea [in SE Asia] has not improved. The price has to be stable first. No one wants to be the monkey,” a trader said commenting on the demand in the region.
The lowest offer for open origin billet and some sanctioned Iranian and Russian material have been reported at $505/mt CFR in Indonesia, but buyers are “not taking it seriously. All bids are still below or at $500/mt CFR maximum,” a local source in Indonesia said. Some market sources said that a limited tonnage from Russia’s Far East has been sold to Taiwan at $500/mt CFR, while the previous deals for Chinese billets were at $490/mt CFR early this month.
“We are not receiving many offers this week. The market has just returned to work, and sellers understand that the market is weak here,” a Bangkok-based trader said.
At the same time, while Asian end-users have taken a step back, traders have been more active in purchasing volumes from ASEAN-based mills. At least four deals for sizable tonnages have been reported at $490-500/mt FOB depending on the suppliers and grades since late last week. At least two of them have already been offered or sold to the MENA region, but some are for further sales, market sources said. “Alliance and Dexin sold some 150 mm billet, because traders need to take positions for June [shipment],” an international trader said. Last week, sales from Indonesian mills were done at $485-487/mt FOB at the highest and were for May shipment, according to recently disclosed information.
