Offers for billets and slabs from ASEAN mills have increased further and more significantly than earlier as suppliers have managed to sell sizable volumes last week and also this week. The uptrend in China has continued, also providing support for ex-ASEAN billet prices.
Prices for ex-Indonesia billet have increased by $10/mt from early this week and $15/mt from last week to $515/mt FOB. Ex-Malaysia billet offers are also up, by $10/mt to $510/mt FOB. According to sources, there have been sales from a Malaysian mill at 493-500/mt FOB, with traders covering their positions. This price translates to around $518-520/mt CFR Manila. “Mills are signaling that they have limited allocation for December,” a trader said.
New offers of Asian origin 5SP BOF billet to the Philippines have been at $525-530/mt CFR, though some traders are still ready to provide below $525/mt CFR if there is a firm bid. IF billet was available at $510/mt CFR Manila.
The SteelOrbis reference price for imported billet in Southeast Asia has increased to $520/mt CFR, up $2-5/mt from last week.
Ex-Iran billets have been traded to Indonesia at $500-505/mt CFR for 3SP, which has been assessed as “a good price” in the current rising market.
Ex-Indonesia slab offers have been hiked to $525/mt FOB. Last week and this week, the leading producer in Indonesia managed to sell a total of 100,000 mt of slabs to Latin America at $492-505/mt FOB, while also two lots of around 80,000 mt in total have been traded at near $500/mt FOB to other destinations.