Posted on 16 Feb 2022
An Indonesian mill has hiked its offers of billet in East Asia despite the recent plunge in the Chinese steel futures, Kallanish notes. The mill's offers exceed $700/t cfr this week whereas most offers from the mill topped $700/t cfr last Friday.
The mill's offers for 150mm 3sp billet are prevailing at $710/tonne cfr China and Taiwan, a trader reports. Last Friday, he heard unconfirmed deals at $695-700/t cfr. A Chinese trader heard of a confirmed booking for Indonesian billet at $705/t cfr China but had no details about the deal. "Rebar and billet prices have fallen in China since 11 February," he says.
The mill is offering billet at $705/t cfr Indonesia and for export, $710/t cfr SE Asia/China/Taiwan, a regional trader says. But a Jakarta manager says the mill offered 3sp billet at $715/t cfr on Monday, up from $695/t cfr last Friday. “I was surprised,” he tells Kallanish. “Buyers are trying to signal that the market is softer, but I have not heard of cheap offers,” another regional trader says.
A Thai trader says that Iranian billet offers are steady at $665/t cif Thailand.
In China, Tangshan billet spot prices slipped by a further CNY 50/t ($8) on Tuesday to CNY 4,650/t. Prices had reached recent peaks at CNY 4,740/t on 11 February. They were prevailing at CNY 4,500/t as recently as 6 February.
Source:Kallanish
