Billet import prices in South East Asia stay flat w-o-w; trades muted

South East Asia's imported billet prices remained unchanged this week amid lower bids, limited trade and weakened finished steel sentiments in the region. SteelMint's bi-weekly assessment of billet (150x150mm, 3SP) imported by the Philippines currently stands at around $585/t CFR Manila, stable on week.

The volatility in China's SHFE rebar futures weighed on prices. According to data maintained with SteelMint, the Chinese SHFE rebar futures contract for October 2022 delivery closed at RMB 4,265/t ($636/t) on 1 July 2022, witnessing a sharp fall of RMB 113/t ($17/t), d-o-d.

Market highlights

• Vietnam's billet export offers edge down w-o-w: Vietnam's BF-grade billet export offers stood at around $540-550/t FOB, a w-o-w decrease of around $15/t. However, no significant deals were heard concluded at current offers.
  
  
• Indian billet export market continues to remain inactive: Indian blast furnace (BF)-grade billet export prices continued to remain under pressure amid low demand from key importing nations. Falling sentiments and a sluggish market kept the billets market down. The gap in bids and offers widened owing to increased prices in the domestic market. An Indian mill had floated an ocean sale export tender for 18,900 t of prime mild steel non-alloy concast billets (125x125x9000/12000 mm, 4SP/5SP) with the due date for the tender as 27 June, and the delivery scheduled for 31 August. According to market sources, the tender received very limited participation and may not be concluded.
  
  
• Iranian billet export prices drop further: Iran's billet export market remained inactive this week, with prices falling further in recently-concluded deals. Declining global prices, low bids, limited trade and cheaper billet offers from Russia continued to weigh on billet export prices, SteelMint notes. An Iranian mill concluded an export deal for 30,000 t of billets at around $515-520/t FOB Iran for August shipment. Iran's billet export prices have corrected by $12/t as against the last-concluded tender last week. SteelMint's latest assessment of Iran's billet (3SP) export prices stood at around $500/t FOB on 1 July, down $30/t w-o-w.