The ASEAN billet market edged sideways amid quiet trading last week when some countries celebrated a public holiday.
Offers for August-shipment 5sp 150mm billet of open origin, either Chinese or ASEAN, have fallen in Manila to $438-440/tonne cfr. Offers were at $440-445/t cfr the week before. Market sentiment is generally bearish, a Manila trader says. The public holiday last Friday added to the market sluggishness and no deals are heard reported to have taken place in the Philippines.
Kallanish assessed 5sp/ps or Q275 120/125/130mm square billet at $440-445/t cfr Manila, down $2.5/t on week.
An Indonesian mill was heard to have ordered 40,000-50,000 tonnes of Chinese 5sp 150mm August-shipment billet at $435-440/t cfr Jakarta during the week through 30 May. The deal was a short sale because the concluded price would be too low for a back-to-back deal, a Chinese trader says. “There is almost no demand in Indonesia,” a Chinese trader noted on Friday. He attributes the “bad market” in Indonesia to the long holiday weekend.
Indonesian mill sources report that Chinese 5sp 150mm offers were still at $420/t fob or around $438-440/t cfr Jakarta at the start of last week. Offers for Chinese 3sp 150mm were prevailing at around $435/t cfr Indonesia at that time. Last Friday, certain Chinese traders were quoting Chinese 3sp 150mm billet at $425/t fob on improving Chinese steel futures.
Leading Indonesian producer Dexin Steel offered 3sp 150mm billet for September shipment at $428/t fob last Friday. It had previously lowered its billet price by $3/t on 4 June to $425/t only to revert it on 6 June. The mill must have closed some export deals while Chinese futures have improved, a trader says on the price rebound. Another notes that Dexin is “not in a hurry" to sell because its billet cargoes' last shipment date by September is still far off.
Source:Kallanish
