After the attempts to increase prices last week, some lower offers have been voiced for imported wire rod in Southeast Asia this week from traders as demand has been poor and they have been trying to accelerate sales. To other markets – like Europe – prices for ex-ASEAN wire rods have also declined. Average offer prices for ex-China wire rods have moved sideways over the past week.
Offer prices of ex-Malaysia wire rod from traders have been heard at $585/mt CFR Manila, which is $10/mt below the lowest offer last week. At the same time, buyers have been willing to buy below $580/mt CFR. Other ex-ASEAN offers have been reported at $590/mt CFR to the Philippines. As a result, the reference price for imported wire rod in Southeast Asia has declined by $5/mt on average over the week to $580-590/mt CFR.
Ex-ASEAN wire rod offers to Europe have been reported at $660-680/mt CFR, down from $670-700/mt CFR reported in deals last week.
Offers for ex-China wire rod have been heard at $580-610/mt FOB, remaining stable on average compared to September 8.
“The Mid-Autumn Day holiday and the typhoon Muifa exerted a negative impact on the construction activities, resulting in slack demand for wire rod, while the inventory of wire rod increased,” an international trader said.
As of Thursday, September 15, rebar futures at the Shanghai Futures Exchange are standing at RMB 3,722/mt ($539/mt), increasing by RMB 3/mt ($0.4/mt) or almost remaining stable since September 8.