Import prices for steel billet in Southeast Asia continued to rise over the past week due to lower supply and costlier Chinese cargoes, while prices for slab fell further on lower offers.
BilletMetal Bulletin's assessment of import prices for billet in Southeast Asia was $545-560 per tonne cfr for the week ended Monday May 7, up $5 per tonne from a week earlier.Deals involving cargoes from Taiwan and Thailand were heard concluded within $555-560 per tonne cfr to the Philippines late this week, up from the $540-555 per tonne cfr transactions a week earlier.A small shipment of Qatari billets, re-exported from Vietnam, was sold to Manila at $549 per tonne cfr.Billet availability was limited during the week, especially given the strong Chinese and Indian domestic markets.Offers from South Korea and Central Asia were heard in the Philippines at $555-560 per tonne cfr.Middle Eastern billets were offered at $550-560 per tonne cfr, up $5-15 per tonne from the preceding week.Chinese offers reached $560-570 per tonne cfr on Friday, up $10 per tonne from a week earlier. China's domestic billet prices improved during the...