Posted on 22 Feb 2021
The Southeast Asian billet market has shot up, Kallanish notes. Bullish suppliers have hiked offers amid the return of Chinese buying, robust market sentiment and rising scrap prices.
In Manila, offers for Japanese EAF billet are prevailing at $580-590/tonne cfr, up from the previous Japanese booking at $545/t cfr on 10 February. Indonesian blast furnace billet was offered on 18 February at $576/t cfr, and Vietnamese blast furnace billet at $590/t cfr. Vietnamese induction furnace billet is offered at $570-575/t cfr.
An 18,900-tonne cargo of Indian-origin 130mm billet, due for April shipment, was ordered at the end of the week through 12 February at $560/t cfr Manila. "Billet prices are rising too much and too quickly for comfort," a Manila trader said on Friday. He points to a previous Russian billet order which concluded on 8 February at $530/t cfr. "Prices may go beyond $600/t," he adds.
In India, an export tender for 30,000t of 3sp/4sp billet for April shipment was awarded to a trader at $518.50/t fob on 18 February. This is $8/t higher than a cargo awarded to the same trader by the same Indian mill at $510.5/t fob only two days earlier.
On 19 February, Kallanish raised its 5sp/ps or Q275 120/125/130mm square billet assessment to $565-570/t cfr Manila, up $20/t from 11 February.
Source:Kallanish
