SteelOrbis has been informed that Chinese export offer prices for wire rod have gone up by $5-10/mt to $480-490/mt FOB during the week ending September 5. Moreover, official offers from Malaysian mills have been heard at $480/mt FOB.
Sentiments have started to improve in the local wire rod market in China this week amid higher iron ore prices and anticipations of a long steel demand recovery in October. Rebar futures at the Shanghai Future Exchange have risen by RMB 73/mt ($10.3/mt) since Friday, reaching RMB 3,423/mt ($483/mt) on Wednesday, September 4. Meanwhile, 62 percent Fe content Australian iron ore prices have risen from $83/mt CFR last Friday to $91.25/mt CFR on September 4.
Nevertheless, traders have been offering Malaysian-origin wire rod at $470/mt CFR to the Philippines compared to $470-480/mt CFR heard last week. This price corresponds to $460/mt FOB, which is $15-20/mt below the official offers from Chinese mills at the moment.
The improvement in sentiments in China’s local market may provide some support for Chinese wire rod export prices in the near future and even result in a slight increase in wire rod prices in Southeast Asia.
