Southeast Asia steel billet prices retreat amid high supply, low buying interest

Prices for cargoes of steel billet imported to Southeast Asia have moved down over the past week amid a continued high volume of offers in the market, with some participants on the sell-side keen to close deals sooner rather than later, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday January 19.

Buyers, perhaps sensing this greater desperation from sellers, have continued to drop their billet bid prices and largely remained out of the market over the last week, sources said.
Blast furnace (BF) billet of 5sp grade from Far East Russia was heard sold at $605 per tonne cfr Philippines last week, but as of Monday, offers from the region were heard at $600-610 per tonne cfr.
China also emerged as a billet seller to the Philippines recently, with deals from China for 3sp BF billet heard closed at $590-600 per tonne cfr Manila, including one transaction heard for 30,000 tonnes.

Similarly, offers for Vietnamese BF billet of 5sp quality were heard at $595 per tonne...

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