Asian billet import quotes move up on slightly better demand
Nov 06, 2019
Billet suppliers kept offer prices high in Southeast Asia in the last two weeks. However, they mostly failed to make deals at these prices. SE Asian buyers are likely to purchase more in the near future.
Most offers were coming to the Philippines at $405-410/t CFR recently, while a deal for 40,000 t of Russian semis was concluded at $402/t CFR last week. Indian suppliers were offering their billets at $405-410/t CFR Manila early this week, but no contracts were heard to be signed. Around 10,000 t of Vietnamese IF semis was booked by a Philippine importer at $395/t CFR last week. Now Vietnamese BOF billet is being offered at $410/t FOB. EAF billets from the Middle East were offered at prices above $400/t CFR Manila.
“The price increase can be sustainable only if China remains active in imports. If China stops buying, while other steelmakers do not reduce output, then the price trend is obvious,” a major Manila-based trader told Metal Expert. Chinese importers were recently focused on Iranian semis only, while just a small batch from Malaysia was also reportedly sold there.
Iranian 3 sp billet was sold to Indonesia at $380-385/t CFR late last week. Big tonnages (up to 100,000 t) were sold there from the UAE last week, according to the supplier, but no more details were disclosed by the time of publication. Another 20,000 t batch of 2 sp, 3 sp and 5 sp grades from Qatar was booked in
Thailand at $398/t CFR, according to market sources in Bangkok. Iranian semis were also booked there recently at $398/t CFR, which was $8/t higher than the average price a week ago. “Demand is slowly moving up, as monsoon season is over. Domestic price for finished products has also slightly increased,” a Bangkok based trader reported. However, most market insiders believe that a more important reason for the recent rise was higher quotes for scrap in global markets.
