Prices in Southeast Asia's steel billet market climbed over the past week due to surging demand from Chinese importers, 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 the Philippines, was $370-375 per tonne on Friday May 8, up by $5 per tonne from $365-370 per tonne on May 6.
Before Friday, the assessment had remained unchanged at $365-370 per tonne
since April 29.
During the week, at least 50,000 tonnes of Iranian billet was sold to Thai buyers at $365-370 per tonne cfr. Another 10,000 tonnes of June-shipment Iranian billet with higher manganese content than mainstream products were also booked at $375 per tonne cfr Thailand.
Iranian prices are excluded from Fastmarkets' assessment because they fall below mainstream levels due to the United States' sanctions against Iran.
The recent...