Posted on 22 Oct 2021
The ASEAN wire rod import market was stable over the past week, Kallanish notes. The Chinese billet market, however, suffered further losses.
Blast furnace low-carbon wire rod from Malaysia was ordered at $775/tonne cfr Manila and $765/t cif Bangkok this week. Several combined orders for around 5,000 tonnes were booked in Manila. As of 20 October, half of the offer of 10,000t was taken up. The cargo should be shipped in November/December.
An Indonesian mill’s offer for blast furnace wire rod is tagged at $810/t cfr Manila. The high price indicates the mill’s lack of selling interest because it has recently sold enough. “Plus, they have a scheduled maintenance next month,” a trader says.
As regional demand is still sluggish, the deals are for stock replenishment purposes. “All steel products are in shortage, but demand is very slow,” says a Thai trader on the few deals struck in the past 2-3 days. Another Thai trader's customers ordered 4,500t of Malaysian wire rod – comprising mostly 6.5mm diameter, with the balance 7mm and 9mm material – for shipment by end-November. Kallanish assessed SAE 1008 6.5mm diameter wire rod on Thursday at $770-775/t cfr Manila, down $2.5 on week.
Regional prices of billet, particularly in the Chinese import market, are a key factor affecting the ASEAN wire rod market. After starting the week soft, the Chinese billet import market slipped further on Thursday. In Tangshan, spot billet fell by CNY 80/t ($13/t) from the previous day to CNY 5,090/t. Prices are CNY 160/t lower on-week.
“The Tangshan market is still high,” a Chinese trader says. The market price of billet at Jianyin port has fallen by CNY 320/t from Wednesday to CNY 4,700/t including VAT. This is equivalent to around $642/t cfr import parity. “There are many imported billet cargoes over there,” he notes.
The latest workable price for billet imports to China is now at $650/t cfr China, a regional trader reports hearing. “I am shocked,” he says. Regional billet offers are currently above $700/t cfr East Asia. "With the correction of today, I don’t think buyers in China would show much interest," a Hong Kong trader said on Thursday.
Source:Kallanish
