Rebar, wire rod offers shoot up in Asia

Long product import markets in Southeast Asia have seen offer prices shoot up this week, Kallanish notes.

In the Philippines, Vietnam-origin 6.5mm diameter wire rod rolled from induction furnace billet is now offered at $463/tonne cfr Manila, up from the transacted $450/t cfr last week. Several deals of 10,000 tonnes each took place at this level to Cebu and Manila, Vietnamese trading sources say. "Now buyers can pay $465/t cfr Manila," a Vietnamese trader said on Thursday.

A newly enforced pandemic lockdown in Manila until 18 August has brought uncertainty to the import market. “It started two days ago so we surely haven’t felt the full impact yet,” a Manila trader said on Thursday. Last week, several small deals also took place for Indian wire-drawing wire rod at $460/t cfr Manila. Offers for mesh-grade wire rod from Malaysia are prevailing at $480/t cfr, up from $465/t cfr last week.

Kallanish assessed SAE 1008 6.5mm diameter mesh-grade wire rod at $463-467/t cfr Manila, up $10 on-week.

Regional rebar import markets also saw offer prices jump up on-week. Offers for Turkish rebar are indicated at $485/t cfr Singapore, theoretical-weight basis, while Chinese rebar suppliers are talking of offering at around $500/t cfr Singapore, trading sources say.

“Offers have gone up by $20/t from last week,” a Singapore trader notes. The hike in offers took effect from 1 August. Construction work has started to resume, but steel demand remains low. Productivity at these sites will be -50-60% lower compared to before Covid-19, as workers are required to follow measures which will reduce physical contact.

In Hong Kong, actual-weight rebar offers are prevailing at $470/t cfr for Indian-origin material, and possibly at $480/t cfr for Turkish rebar. With domestic prices of rebar at the equivalent of around $450/t in both Singapore and Hong Kong, these rebar offers will not find any takers, importing and trading sources say.

On Thursday, Kallanish raised its weekly BS4449 500B 10-40mm diameter rebar price to $430-435/t cfr Singapore theoretical weight, up $10 on-week.