Prices in Southeast Asia's steel billet market remained stable on Friday January 10 as buyers mostly stayed away from the spot market in anticipation of softer scrap charges, sources told Fastmarkets.
"It is difficult to conclude any deals because the situation envisioned by buyers [of lower scrap prices] has yet to materialize," an Indian trader said.
Scrap prices in Turkey, the world's largest importer of the steelmaking raw material,
remained stable despite sluggish demand for long steel.
Fastmarkets' daily price assessment for
steel billet, import, cfr Southeast Asia, was $440-445 per tonne on January 10, unchanged from the previous day and also stable week on week.
During the week, 10,000 tonnes of Malaysian billet consisting of material of various grades were sold at $445-448 per tonne cfr Indonesia. Market participants estimated that the price would be equivalent to about $443 per tonne Indonesia for 5sp grade billet.
An Indonesian producer reportedly sold 5,000-10,000 tonnes of 5sp grade 150mm billet at $445 per tonne cfr Manila. This transaction could not be verified by the time of publication and...