Last week, the price of imported billet in Southeast Asia was concentrated at 510-520 US dollars/ton CFR. This week, as buyers continued to remain silent, the billet price in Southeast Asia dropped, and Chinese billet export price advantage emerged.

It is understood that the current specification of Thailand's intermediate frequency furnace is a 3sp billet, which is quoted to the Philippines at about US$500/ton CFR. Russian 3sp resources are quoted in Southeast Asia at about US$500-505/ton CFR. Indonesia has not updated its export quotation this week. The price of a 3sp billet in Indonesia is estimated to be approximately US$510/ton CFR Philippines. The export quotation of billet from some steel mills in northern China is about 480-490 US dollars/ton FOB, and about 495-505 US dollars/ton CFR, which has a price advantage compared with resources from other countries.

However, Philippine buyers' inquiry prices for 5sp billet are as high as US$500/ton CFR, and for 3sp billet, the inquiry price is as low as US$480/ton CFR. Market participants said that the transaction price of domestic intermediate frequency furnace resources in the Philippines is about US$465/ton EXW, and rolling mills are cautious in purchasing on demand. Therefore, it isn't easy to increase the inquiry price for imported billet.