ASEAN importers’ appetite for billet has shrunk significantly amid surging Covid-19 cases in the region, Kallanish notes. Domestic rebar prices are too weak to support billet import prices.

Offers in Manila are mostly at above $700/tonne cfr. Blast furnace and electric arc furnace billet from Vietnam are prevailing at $710-715/t cfr, importing sources say. Blast furnace billet from Vietnam is offered at $690/t fob or $720/t cfr Manila, but suppliers are seen willing to sell at $5 lower.

A Russian mill’s offer for 125mm billet is tagged at $730/t cfr Manila. “I am sure that it is negotiable,” a buyer says. A local trader says buyers will not consider this price, except for a few with pending rebar supply contracts. “Domestic rebar prices are too low," he opines. Current rebar prices can support average billet prices at $700/t cfr and below. “If they buy at higher than $700/t, they will eventually sell at a loss if selling prices don’t improve,” he adds.

While buyers could be targeting to book at below $700/t cfr Manila, a new lockdown imposed as of 6 August has brought uncertainties, a second trader says. “I’d be surprised if anybody would even book anything today,” he observes. Kallanish assessed 5sp/ps or Q275 120/125/130mm square billet on Friday at $710-715/t cfr Manila, $10 lower on-week.

In Thailand, an Indonesian mill’s offer for 150mm billet was heard at $720/t cfr. “I don’t think anyone is importing billet into Thailand at the moment,” a regional trader says. Thai re-rollers’ billet import price target is at only $633-647/t cif Ko Sichang, as local rebar prices are currently pegged at THB 23,000-23,500/t ($689-704/t), a Bangkok trader says. “That’s why they are exporting billet rather than importing,” the regional trader adds.

Meanwhile in China, billet deals were struck at lower prices in the past week. Vietnamese induction furnace billet was ordered at $695/t cfr. The above-mentioned Indonesian blast furnace mill was heard to have sold 10,000 tonnes of billet at $705/t cfr China on 5 August. Its offer price is $710/t cfr China. ASEAN blast furnace billet was previously booked in the last two weeks of July at $720-725/t cfr China.

Domestic spot prices in Tangshan corrected downwards since the start of the previous week to CNY 5,080/t ($785/t) on 6 August. This was down CNY 50 on-day and CNY 140 lower since 1 August.