South East Asia’s imported billet market continued to remain sluggish on the back of insufficient demand in the region, muted trades amid absence of bids, weak finished steel market sentiments and volatility in Chinese rebar futures. Meanwhile, market participants have adopted a wait-and-watch mode with price cut expectations, BigMint observed.
One of the traders mentioned to BigMint, “Currently, market is very weak as we are not getting any bids.”
BigMint’s bi-weekly assessment of billet (150x150mm, 3SP) imported by the Philippines currently stands at around $505-510/tonne (t) CFR Manila, unchanged, w-o-w.
Market highlights
- Vietnam’s billet export offers drop w-o-w: Vietnam’s BF-grade billet export offers fell w-o-w by around $10-15/t to $490/t FOB with no active trades. The country’s finished steel segment has not been performing well due to monsoon causing delays in construction activities affecting billet export market.
- Thailand’s imported billet prices fall w-o-w: Thailand’s imported billet offers witnessed a w-o-w decrease of around $15-20/t CFR to stand at $495-500/t CFR. Meanwhile, the country’s billet imports dropped by 34% m-o-m to 127,890 t in May, 2024 as against 193,477 t in the previous month, according to the Customs data maintained by BigMint.
- Iranian billet export market at standstill: Iran’s billet export market continued to remain silent this week with prices stable on a weekly basis. No major billet export tenders have been heard in recent times. Power cut restrictions amid scorching summer in the region have weighed on export market.
- China’s steel billet prices decrease w-o-w: Billet prices in Tangshan dropped by RMB 30/t ($4/t) w-o-w to RMB 3,310/t ($456/t) on 28 June, 2024. Volatility in raw materials, finished steel prices, rebar futures throughout the week along with lower trades weighed on billet prices. Prices include 13% VAT. SHFE rebar futures (October, 2024 delivery) decreased by RMB 19/t ($3/t) w-o-w to RMB 3,544/t ($488/t) on 28 June, 2024.
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