Southeast Asian billet import prices dip amid growing supply, lockdown extensions

Prices in Southeast Asia's steel billet market sank in the week to Thursday April 30 amid market participants' concerns over a growing number of cargoes being offered in the spot market despite sluggish buying interest, Fastmarkets heard.

The regulations imposed to curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus continued to weigh on steel demand and prices over the assessment week, sources told Fastmarkets.
Fastmarkets' daily price assessment for steel billet, import, cfr Southeast Asia, which mainly looks at 120-150mm 5sp grade billet sold into Manila, was $365-370 per tonne on April 30, unchanged from the previous day.
Fastmarkets' assessment was in the range of $370-375 per tonne cfr Southeast Asia on the first two days of the week before falling slightly on Wednesday April 29.

During the week, Japanese billet was sold at $370 per tonne cfr to the Philippines. The transaction involved...

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