Posted on 26 Jul 2019
Bearish market sentiment and uncertainty have continued to depress the Southeast Asian long products import markets. Market sentiment is currently negative with many buyers staying on the sidelines, Kallanish notes. However, most suppliers are maintaining their offer prices because of firm raw materials costs.
Aggressive traders are offering Malaysian mesh grade 6.5mm diameter wire rod for September shipment at $505-510/tonne cfr Manila, $10/t lower than last week. “Some traders appear to be aggressively short-selling,” a Manila trader says. But he does not know of any buying as of yet. “Many are spooked, so they would wait again,” he adds.
SAE 1008 6.5mm diameter mesh-grade wire rod was lowered by Kallanish on Thursday to $505-510/t cfr Manila, down $7.5/t on-week.
In Thailand, Malaysian mesh-grade wire rod is also offered at $505-510/t cfr Bangkok. Some deals closed at $505/t cfr, a Thai trader reports.
Chinese wire rod remains uncompetitive in the region. Offers are prevailing at $545/t cfr Manila, unchanged from the past two weeks. Chinese wire rod prices are stable in Vietnam at $540/t cfr Vietnam.
In Singapore, the rebar market continues to see little activity because of the continued price gap between buyers and suppliers. Offers for rebar are prevailing at $490-500/t cfr Singapore theoretical-weight basis, importing sources say. These are for non-Chinese rebar. However, buyers want to pay $480/t cfr and below, Singapore traders report.
Chinese material is also priced out of the market with offers at $525-530/t cfr Singapore theoretical-weight basis.
Kallanish assessed its weekly BS4449 500B 10-40mm dia rebar price on Thursday at $490/t cfr, down $2.5 on-week.
