January 17, 2024
This week, with raw material costs still high, steel billet prices in Southeast Asia continued to run at high levels. The most advantageous billet quotation in Southeast Asia is the quotation of 5sp billet at US$550/ton CFR Manila. The price of blast furnace resources is relatively high. This week, the billet quotation information of the intermediate frequency furnace has increased. Vietnam's billet resources, which had the highest quotation last week, raised their billet quotations again this week, and transaction information is difficult to find. However, demand for finished steel products in Vietnam has recovered. Although local demand for hot coils in Vietnam is still weak this week, Vietnam's coated steel export transactions are better, so the quotations of most steel rolling mills may also increase slightly. In addition, the demand for long products in Vietnam has also picked up, the overall demand has improved, and the quotations of heating coils and long products have increased. Since July last year, India has also started to offer hot rolls to Vietnam this week. In India, the local hot coil transactions are currently deserted, the inventory is at a high level, and the price of hot coil has dropped significantly. Some buyers tend to reduce export prices to maintain local quotations. In the Middle East market, as the overall quotation of billet in Southeast Asia this week is still high, Turkish buyers are paying more attention to the relatively low-priced Russian steel billet resources. Moreover, due to the recent good long product transactions in Turkey, the demand for imported billet has also increased, and Russian billet Export quotations also rose slightly. The trading policy introduced by Turkey's Kardemir has greatly benefited sales. Therefore, although the price of imported scrap steel in Turkey has increased recently due to climate, shipping conditions and other reasons, and the quotations of long products have increased, the international market's attention to Turkish long products has not decreased but increased. Overall, international steel prices have strengthened overall this week, and demand has improved in some regions.
