SE Asia: Formosa Lowers Billet Offer by USD 35

Formosa Ha Tinh Corporation (FHS), Vietnam’s largest steel manufacturer of the country has slashed its billet offers for shipments scheduled by Oct’19. The price offered for billet by the company is reported to be USD 420/MT, CIF North, down USD 35/MT against last month and that to for South is reported to be USD 425/MT, CIF, down from USD 460, CIF against last month.

SE Asia billet import market witness a deal from Russia (unconfirmed) this week, sources reported to SteelMint. However, the billet import offers in region have dropped down to USD 405-410/MT CFR SE Asia down USD 5/MT against last week.

Billet export offers from CIS witness a sharp drop - This week billet export assessment from CIS nations stands at USD 355-360/MT, FoB Black Sea, down USD 10-15 against last week. The market sentiments were reported weak in the region. If sources to be believed, a deal from Russia to Indonesia is reported to conclude at USD 405/MT, CFR. The deal quantity was reported to be 50,000 MT.

Also, Turkish imported scrap prices have moved down further this week. With the continued low demand of Turkish finished steel and the resultant production cuts by mills, many steelmakers have been pressurizing global suppliers of imported scrap and hence the billet producers to accept their lower bids. Another reason for dull billet market sentiment is slowdown in the global economy.

As per SteelMint’s assessment, US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) scrap has moved down to USD 244/MT, CFR Turkey. Prices have moved down further by around USD 10-11/MT against last week’s report, while in comparison to the last booking reported, the fall in prices is around USD 8/MT.