Posted on 28 Sep 2020
Prices for imported billet have finally eased in Southeast Asia, Kallanish notes. The region’s billet import market kept rising for several weeks after the Chinese billet import market turned lukewarm. Southeast Asian booking prices peaked during the 18 September week, although the Chinese market entered its lull in early September.
An offer for 20,000 tonnes of Russian 125mm square billet for November shipment was prevailing at $445/tonne cfr Manila on Friday. Market participants did not hear of the offer being taken up as of Friday. “The market is soft,” an importer says. He heard the offer earlier in the week at $447/t cfr and thinks it is a cargo taken up by a trader when prices were moving up swiftly before.
Russian billet for December shipment was booked during the 18 September week at $455/t cfr. Some sources heard billet from the Middle East offered at $441-445/t cfr Manila. Vietnamese induction furnace billet is now offered at $445/t cfr compared to $450/t cfr the week before. On Friday, Kallanish lowered its 5sp/ps or Q275 120/125/130mm square billet assessment to $443-445t cfr Manila, down $8.5 on-week.
In Thailand, buying sources are saying that Iranian billet offers slipped to $435/t cif on Thursday, down from the transacted $438/t cif the week before. Traders are trying to induce bids or draw interest from buyers at these lower prices, a Bangkok-based trader says. He has also heard of certain traders trying to induce bids for Indian billet at $440/t cif Thailand.
Another says that, with Iranian billet priced at $415/t fob and freight at $30/t, he does not see how traders can offer billet at $435/t cif Thailand. "Offers are not at these lower levels yet, unless traders are taking positions," he adds.
Source:Kallanish
