Tight supply resulted in import prices strengthening for steel billet in Southeast Asia and slab in the wider region encompassing East Asia over the past week.
Metal Bulletin's assessment of import prices for billet in Southeast Asia was $535-550 per tonne cfr for the week ended Monday February 5, widening upward by $5 per tonne from a week earlier. Deals involving Middle Eastern and Japanese cargoes were heard concluded around $537-540 per tonne cfr to Indonesia and the Philippines.A transaction involving around 25,000 tonnes of billet from the Commonwealth of Independent States was concluded at $530 per tonne cfr to Indonesia. Traders found this price surprisingly low and are of the opinion that it was not likely to be representative of market levels. "That seller is also not a regular participant in Southeast Asia, so its...