Average offer prices for ex-China wire rod have moved up over the past week and ex-ASEAN quotations have followed, causing the tradable prices to rise higher even though overall trading has still been limited.
Offers for ex-China wire rod from second-tier mills have been heard at $530-545/mt FOB, increasing by $12.5/mt on average compared to November 9. “Steel producers using electric arc furnaces have been active in production activities, resulting in a relatively high level of wire rod supply, which may exacerbate the imbalance between supply and demand in the near future, and thereby the upward trend of wire rod prices in the Chinese domestic market may slow down,” an international trader said.
Offer prices of ex-Indonesia and ex-Malaysia wire rod from major mills have been heard at $540-550/mt FOB, moving up by $10/mt compared to last week.
Traders have started to offer ex-ASEAN wire rod at $545/mt CFR Manila at the lowest, up by $10/mt over the past week. Among Chinese offers, only a few of them have been reported at $545-550/mt CFR but only for non-VAT trading. “If billet offers are at $535/mt CFR already, there could be demand at $545/mt CFR [the Philippines] for wire rod,” a trader said. Offers to Thailand have also added $10/mt, rising to $555/mt CFR.
As of November 17, rebar futures at the Shanghai Future Exchange are standing at RMB 3,929/mt ($548/mt), increasing by RMB 50/mt ($7/mt) or 1.3 percent since November 10.
$1 = RMB 7.1728
