Posted on 18 Oct 2024
Rebar import offers into Singapore and Hong Kong fell further in tandem with weakening Chinese steel prices and sentiment. With the recent fall in the Chinese steel futures in, prices are expected to fall further, Kallanish notes.
Theoretical-weight rebar from a leading Malaysian blast furnace mill is offered at $540/tonne dap (trucked to) Singapore, down from $550/t dap last week. The dap Singapore basis price is estimated to be $5-10/t higher than on a cfr Singapore basis.
On Tuesday, a trader offered 10,000t and above theoretical-weight December-shipment rebar from the above-mentioned Malaysian mill at $535/t cfr Singapore. There is an extra charge of $10/t for orders of under $10,000t. Chinese theoretical-weight rebar is being offered at around $560/t cfr Singapore.
Buyers are still waiting for price stability in China and no deals are heard to have concluded after recent highs around 7 October. “All are monitoring the market,” a Singapore trader says.
Kallanish assessed BS4449 500B 10-40mm diameter rebar at $530/t cfr Singapore theoretical weight, unchanged on-week.
In Hong Kong, the same Malaysian mill’s actual weight rebar was heard at the minimum of $550/t cfr. “It seems that mills don’t want to drop their offering prices yet,” a Hong Kong buyer says on Thursday. He adds: “It should be cheaper now.”
In Vietnam, domestic mills raised the prices for rebar and wire rod by VND 150/kg ($6/t) late last week. The above-mentioned Vietnamese mills raised the price for 16mm and up diameter rebar slightly later on Tuesday by the same margin to VND 13,620/kg, excluding VAT.
The price hike is due to higher imported scrap prices, a mill manager in Ho Chi Minh city says. Higher-priced container scrap is mostly due to Taiwan's market uptrend and for bulk scrap vessels, the rising Bangladesh market, he adds.
Source:Kallanish
