Posted on 15 Jan 2021
Long steel products markets in Southeast Asia are still firm but some downward price correction is taking place, Kallanish notes. While suppliers are mostly keeping offers steady, traders say there is increasing reluctance among buyers to pay up this week.
Chinese wire rod offers in Manila are generally stable at $615-620/tonne cfr for material from Tangshan and at $660-665/t from the top tier mills, down $5/t from last week. Some buying for Tangshan wire rod took place this week and the cargoes, which comprised position and back-to-back parcels, were mostly for February shipment, a Manila trader says.
Another says that the "…market has cooled down quite a bit" because domestic demand is not picking up whereas steel prices keep rising. "Even with the vaccine coming we don't know how the economy will recover," he adds. Regional wire rod from Malaysia and Indonesia is offered at $630/t cfr Manila, he adds.
Kallanish assessed SAE 1008 6.5mm diameter wire rod at $615-625/t cfr Manila on Thursday, down $10/t on-week.
Meanwhile, regional rebar importers are shunning suppliers' high asking prices. A Chinese mill sold actual-weight rebar at $670/t cfr Hong Kong last week but buyers are unwilling to accept $670/t cfr today, a trader reported on Thursday.
The same Chinese mill is now offering theoretical-weight rebar at $660-670/t cfr Singapore against buying interest at $630-640/t cfr. The mill still has March shipments available, but other Chinese mills are now offering April shipments. "Mills don't want to lower prices because iron ore is still above $160/t," the trader notes.
A position cargo for Chinese rebar is available at $640/t cfr Singapore this week. The cargo is due for February/March shipment.
The last booking price for Turkish actual-weight rebar took place last week at $681-685/t cfr. "That's way too expensive," an importer says of the order price. He describes the current market as "…consolidating" with offers from China at around $655-660/t cfr.
Kallanish raised its weekly BS4449 500B 10-40mm diameter rebar price to $640-650/t cfr Singapore theoretical weight, up $10 week-on-week.
Source:Kallanish
