Posted on 12 Mar 2021
Southeast Asian long products markets have peaked, Kallanish notes. Regional market sentiment cooled down after Chinese iron ore and steel futures corrected downwards on 9 March. Asian scrap prices are also slipping.
Wire rod import offers have fallen by $10-15/tonne from last week. Offers for Malaysian and Indonesian 6.5mm diameter wire rod are prevailing at around $670/t cfr Manila compared to $680-685/t cfr last week. Most buyers are holding back, a Manila trader says. “Some, though, are prepared to buy if the price is right," he says. He had a bid at $650/t cfr on 10 March which was not workable. Tangshan wire rod is offered at as low as $700/t cfr Manila.
"Market prices are weakening in the last two days," a Thai trader says. Another says he heard 6.5mm diameter Malaysian wire rod booked at $700/t cif Thailand last week, but also a booking this week for Indonesian wire rod at $670/t cif Thailand. Kallanish assessed SAE 1008 6.5mm diameter wire rod at $665-670/t cfr Manila on Thursday, down $10 on-week.
In Singapore, market participants are waiting for Chinese theoretical-weight rebar prices to come off from the recent peaks of $710-715/t cfr Singapore for April/May shipments. "Iron ore has come down; if there is no news about the rumoured export rebate cut, then Chinese prices should fall," a Singapore trader says. He does not expect domestic rebar prices, which were hiked this week to SGD 970/t ($724/t) delivered Singapore, to go up further.
Last week, a bulk cargo for Turkish theoretical-weight rebar for May shipment concluded at $685/t cfr Singapore. Some Chinese trading sources believe the cargo could have been booked by a trader to cover an earlier position sale.
Kallanish maintained its weekly BS4449 500B 10-40mm diameter rebar price assessment on Thursday at $660-670/t cfr Singapore theoretical weight.
Source:Kallanish
