Average offer prices for ex-China wire rod have moved sideways over the past week amid increasing rebar futures prices, which triggered similar rises from major ASEAN mills. Moreover, expected improvement of demand in China in September have resulted in generally positive outlook in the Asian market.
Offers for ex-China wire rod from the second-tier mills have been heard at $465-475/mt FOB, edging up by $5/mt on average compared to last week, while reference deal prices have been heard at $465/mt FOB, also up by $5/mt week on week.
During the given week, part of specifications of wire rod has been in shortage in the domestic market, bolstering its prices firmly, while demand for wire rod in the Chinese domestic market improved to a certain degree. Meanwhile, rebar futures prices have moved up, providing solid support to the wire rod market. It is expected that wire rod prices in the Chinese domestic market may maintain the uptrend in the coming week amid the anticipated better demand in the traditional peak season, according to sources
Offer prices of Indonesia Dexin wire rod have been heard at $475/mt FOB, increasing by $5/mt compared to last week, while offer prices of ex-Malaysia wire rod have been heard at $470/mt FOB. Ex-Vietnam Hoa Phat material has been available at $490/mt FOB, rising by $5/mt on average.
In Southeast Asia’s import market, the latest deals for Asian for Q195 wire rod were done at $480-485/mt CFR, slightly up from $475-485/mt CFR seen as a reference price last week. New offers are at $485-495/mt CFR.
As of August 29, rebar futures at Shanghai Futures Exchange are standing at RMB 3,259/mt ($457/mt), increasing by RMB 85/mt ($11.9/mt) or 2.7 percent since August 22, while down 0.09 percent compared to the previous trading day, August 28.
$1=RMB 7.1299