Activity in the import billet market in Taiwan has increased somewhat over the past ten days with a few sizable lots, mainly originating from Russia and China, traded at lower prices.
Ex-Russia and ex-China base 3SP billets have been transacted at $480-485/mt CFR Taiwan, down by $5-10/mt from offers in late June. Also, vanadium-added billets have been traded at $500/mt CFR or slightly above, according to market sources. “These origins are the cheapest, so buyers got what they wanted,” a trader commented.
Also, low-priced ex-China 3SP billet offers have been reported at $487-490/mt CFR and 5SP offers at $491-493/mt CFR, both to the Indonesian market. “Indonesian buyers got very sharp offers from Chinese traders and will likely book these days… No transactions for Indonesian billet itself as China billets are still dominating the markets,” a Singapore-based source said.