Prices in Southeast Asia's steel billet market were stable on Friday April 17, despite an upturn in global ferrous scrap prices, with demand in the region remaining weak.
Market participants were doubtful that suppliers could push through price increases for sales to Southeast Asia due to lackluster billet demand with most countries in the region still under restrictions imposed by their respective governments to curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus.
An 'enhanced community quarantine' of the island of Luzon, where the Philippines' capital city of Manila is located, has been extended to April 30.
A nationwide state of emergency and night-time curfew remains in place in Thailand, while Indonesia has placed several cities, including its capital Jakarta, under partial lockdown.
Fastmarkets' daily price assessment of
steel billet, import, cfr Southeast Asia, which mainly looks at 120-150mm 5sp grade billet sold into Manila, was $365-375 per tonne on April 17, unchanged since April 7.
In the...