Sentiments in Southeast Asia’s import billet market have worsened significantly this week as most buyers have decided to postpone purchases and cut bids, seeing the weakening of the Chinese market.
Offers for ex-ASEAN 5SP IF billet have come back at around $535/mt CFR, though the price ideas of sellers for this material were at $540/mt CFR last week. But even such prices have failed to attract buyers. “Buyers will not accept any price increases. Maybe $530/mt CFR can get them to negotiations,” a Manila-based source said.
Official offers for ex-ASEAN and ex-India 130 mm and 150 mm billets have been at $550-560/mt CFR, relatively stable over the past week, though, taking into account weak demand, discounts at around $5-7/mt are easily possible.
The mood has worsened also because of the drop in the Chinese market. The ex-China 3SP reference price has slipped by $7.5/mt since late last week to $525-535/mt FOB. In these conditions, the attempt of the Indonesian producer to increase prices (its offers have risen by $5/mt to $535/mt FOB) will fail very quickly. “I think $530/mt FOB [fixed in latest deals] is still possible against firm bids, which have faded away,” a Singapore based source said.
The SteelOrbis reference price for imported billet in Southeast Asia has moved down by $6/mt on average over the past week to $530-540/mt CFR, taking into account falling bids, even though offers have been relatively stable.
The latest offers for ex-Iran billet have been at $530/mt CFR, stable from last week, but are unacceptable to end-users in Southeast Asia at the moment.