Following the global trend, the billet import offers in the SE Asia region have witnessed a drastic drop, this week. The drop-in offers were primarily due to the acute fall in global scrap prices which was strongly supported by the corona virus outbreak in the region.
SteelMint’s assessment for SE Asia billet import at USD 380-390/MT CFR, down by USD 20, against last week. “Last week few mills booked Vietnam origin billets at USD 415/MT, CFR Thailand levels. But after the recent plunge in offers, mills are eyeing for levels below USD 400/MT, CFR Thailand”, shared a close source.
For instance, the Philippines, which is one of the leading billet importers has declared an “enhanced community quarantine” until 12 Apr’20 to stop the spread of coronavirus infections. Only establishments that provide services like food and medicine shall be open,” said Duterte; President, Philippines.
CIS billet export offers fall sharply in the recent deal – CIS billet export offers reported a sharp decline this week, in a recent deal to China from Russia. The country was reported to book approximately 40,000 MT billets at USD 400/MT, CFR. And the shipment is scheduled by Jun’20, report says. The billet export assessment from CIS nations is at USD 355-365/MT, FoB Black Sea, down by USD 25 W-o-W. Also, the recent plunge in the exchange rate of Ruble against USD has resulted in a decline in Russian billet export prices. Today (On 20 Mar’20) the Ruble was traded at RUB 78.54 against USD till 07:20 UTC.
Few market participants also indicate that Russian billet export offers have dropped to USD 350/MT, FoB levels today.
Vietnam- Following the global trend, the domestic and export offers in/from the country have witnessed an acute drop. Domestic billet offers were reported at USD 400/MT, CFR levels.
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