Offer prices for import billets in Southeast Asia have declined over the past week, but they are still far above the levels seen in the latest round of purchases, and so buyers are mainly staying away.
Offers for 5SP billet in the Philippines have been at $460-465/mt CFR mainly. Although this is $5/mt lower than late last week, it is still higher than the previous deal at $450/mt CFR done around 10-14 days back. “Buyers are not interested. I don’t think that China will remain strong up to the end of September,” a local trader said.
Offers for Chinese 3SP billets have been at $452/mt CFR Taiwan, while ex-Russia materials have been available at $455/mt CFR. In the previous round of bookings, buyers in Taiwan had achieved $430-435/mt CFR.
Though the Chinese market reopened somewhat negatively yesterday after its short holiday, market sources believe that prices will stabilize at the current levels.
The SteelOrbis reference price for imported billet in Southeast Asia has settled at $452-465/mt CFR, up by $3.5/mt on average over the past week.