Posted on 16 May 2022
Buying interest for billet continues to be sluggish in Southeast Asia, Kallanish notes. The limited offers tabled are falling. But regional importers are waiting for the market to bottom out.
An Indonesian blast furnace mill is offering 150mm square 5sp billet at $710/tonne cfr Manila. The offer for 3sp billet is $10/t lower, a Manila trader says. But a regional trader adds that the billet grade does not really matter in a falling market. “They [mills] should be happy to sell at $710 in the Philippines for whichever grade,” he opines. Kallanish notes that the 150mm size is not popular in the country. The Indonesian mill is also offering 150mm 3sp billet at $705/t cfr Jakarta.
Offers for induction furnace billet from Thailand and Vietnam are prevailing at $690-700/t cfr Manila. Apart from these offers, other supplying mills were largely absent last week. “They have been generally quiet. I guess that they realised that it is pointless to chase orders in a weak market,” a Manila trader says. The offer for the Indonesian blast furnace billet could be from short-selling traders, he notes.
Vietnamese blast furnace 130mm 5sp billet for July shipment is currently offered at $700/t cfr Manila, Vietnamese trading sources say, but there have been no bookings so far. Kallanish assessed 5sp/ps or Q275 120/125/130mm square billet at $700-710/t cfr Manila, down $35.
No fresh offers of Russian billet were heard in the region last week after an order for 90,000 tonnes concluded at $650/t cfr Taiwan during the week through 6 May. Traders continue to ponder over the means of payment used to circumvent sanctions and banking restrictions.
Meanwhile, a parcel of Iranian 150mm 3sp grade billet, which is already at the discharging Thai port of Ko Sichang, is being offered at $665/t cif, a Thai trader says. The supplier wanted to sell the cargo at $700/t cfr originally, another says, adding he is not sure its price has reached this low level. Recently tendered Iranian billet would be offered at $680/t cif, a Thai trader estimates.
Source:Kallanish
