Posted on 19 Apr 2021
Suppliers are still pressing for price gains in the East Asian billet market. However, Chinese importers are not accepting higher prices after continuous increases, Kallanish notes.
In China, import deals for 150mm 3sp billet during the past week traded at $660/tonne cfr for ASEAN-origin billet, and at $640-645/t cfr for non-ASEAN billet, unchanged from the previous week, trading sources say.
But suppliers have raised offer prices in China, a Chinese trader says. Russian 130mm billet for June shipment is offered at $655/t cfr China and Indian 150mm billet for June/early July shipment at $665/t cfr. A Vietnamese mill is offering 150mm blast furnace billet at $670/t cfr ($640/t fob) unchanged on-week. But Vietnamese trading sources report not hearing of deals at this latest offer price.
In China, the domestic spot billet market in Tangshan has been trading steady at CNY 4,960/t ($760/t) over 14-16 April, after peaking at CNY 5,060/t in the previous week, on 7-8 April.
In Manila, offer prices have also shot up to match offers to China. An offer for Russian 130mm billet for July shipment is heard at $665/t cfr. Vietnamese blast furnace billet is also offered at $665/t cfr Manila. It was hard to close deals at $665/t cfr because buyers and sellers are unwilling to compromise, a Manila trader says. A booking for 100mm July-shipment billet from the same Russian mill transacted at $650/t cfr Manila on 9 April.
On 16 April, Kallanish raised its 5sp/ps or Q275 120/125/130mm square billet assessment to $650-655/t cfr Manila, $10/t higher on-week.
Thai trading sources report that Iranian billet for June shipment was booked at $625/t cif Thailand during the week ending 16 April.
Source:Kallanish
