The market for imported rebar and wire rod in ASEAN remain quiet, Kallanish notes, with offers for rebar and wire rod either unchanged or sliding slightly while customers are holding off buying.

Offers for mesh-grade 6.5mm diameter Chinese Q195 wire rod for August shipment are at around $465/tonne cfr Manila compared to $465-470/t last week.

Some deals from 500 tonnes to several thousand tonnes concluded at $460-465/t depending on order sizes, Philippine trading sources say. Offers for 8-12mm diameter Q235 grade wire rod are at below $445/t cfr.

Kallanish assessed SAE 1008/Q195 6.5mm-8mm diameter wire rod at $460-465/t cfr Manila, unchanged on week.

A supplier is inviting bids this week for 6.5-8mm diameter Chinese SAE1008/Q195 wire rod, for shipment by 31 July, at an unchanged level of $455/t cfr Vietnam.

Chinese-origin Q195 offers are prevailing at $475/t cif Thailand. Lower-priced Chinese wire rod offers in ASEAN are believed to be export shipments which could evade full payment of Chinese VAT.

A Malaysian blast furnace mill's 6.5mm SAE1006/SAE1008 for shipment by end-July is quoted at $495/t cfr Vietnam. Indonesia’s Dexin Steel lowered export prices for September-shipment 6.5mm diameter wire rod to $490/t fob effective 12 June. The mill has been lowering prices by $5/t daily since 10 June.

Meanwhile, the rebar market in Singapore is soft with suppliers cutting Chinese-origin rebar offer prices.

Chinese rebar offers are lower at $465/t cfr Singapore, down $5/t from last week. A Singapore trader hears certain quotes are at as low as $450/t cfr. “Some mills want to sell because they are hungry,” he notes. He believes buyers would accept paying at around this level.

A theoretical-weight rebar offer from the above-mentioned Malaysian mill is heard at $460-465/t dap (trucked to) Singapore, unchanged from last week. The dap basis price is estimated to be $5-10/t higher than on a cfr Singapore basis.

The market is quiet because buyers are cautious and are taking a wait-and-see stance, another Singapore trader says.

Kallanish assessed BS4449 500B 10-40mm diameter rebar at $450-455/t cfr Singapore, down $5 on-week.

In Hong Kong, the rebar market is quiet amid few offers and very weak buying interest. “Local demand is weak because of the approaching typhoon season,” a local buyer says.