Posted on 27 May 2024
ASEAN billet prices are rising due to traders' buying. However, end-user demand in the region remains sluggish, Kallanish notes.
Bookings in the past week for regional blast furnace billet for July shipment took place at $495-498/tonne fob. Indonesian 3sp grade 150mm billet on 21 May was ordered at $498/t fob (see Kallanish passim). This included a 20,000t cargo booked to cover a spot contract to the Philippines. The Chinese trader, like some others, was taking profit from position-squaring amid the SHFE steel futures rally.
Some participants are seen to be taking a bullish stance. Also on 21 May, a different Chinese trader ordered 45,000t of Vietnamese 3sp grade 150mm billet at $495/t fob, Vietnamese mill and trading sources report hearing.
In Philippines, the Chinese trader withdrew a $520/t cfr Manila offer it had been pitching earlier in the week for 5sp billet from the same Vietnamese mill. “This morning, they said that their Vietnamese billet allocation is not available anymore,” a trader said on Friday.
A regional trader recounts that the Chinese trader which booked the Vietnamese cargo told him that Indonesian billet prices will spiral to $503-505/t fob within the week. He thinks that the Vietnamese billet is destined for Turkey or the EU.
Chinese traders with recent purchases are telling the market that they paid $500/t fob, another regional trader says. Another hears of Chinese traders wanting to sell at $500/t fob but he doubts whether end-users, particularly in ASEAN can accept $500/t fob.
The Vietnamese mill is heard to have sold out all its July shipment allocations after its 21 May sale. A Hangzhou-based trader also booked 10,000t of billet from the mill on 21 May.
Meanwhile, offers for 150mm 5sp open-origin billet are prevailing at $525-528/t cfr Manila, and for 130mm billet closer to $530/t cfr or higher. Apart from a reroller's order for 26,000t for 5sp 150mm Indonesian billet at around $520/t cfr concluded earlier week, the Philippine market is essentially silent. Traders say that they neither heard nor have received firm bids during the past week. Kallanish assessed 5sp/ps or Q275 120/125/130mm square billet at $525/t cfr Manila, up $5 on-week.
Source:Kallanish
