The import markets for rebar and wire rod were inactive in ASEAN this week, Kallanish notes.

Regional trading sources say that suppliers are dormant and offers are unavailable mainly because China has yet to return from the Lunar New Year holiday.

“I have not heard anything. It is very quiet with the Chinese absent in the market,” a Singapore trader who handles the long products says. He is hopeful however that some activity will return next week.

“China is not open so there is no price movement nor offer prices,” a Singapore rebar buyer says. While trading of Chinese steel futures resumes on 16 February, his Chinese contacts are only back on Monday, he adds. BS4449 500B 10-40mm diameter rebar is assessed at $565/t cfr Singapore theoretical weight, unchanged on-week.

A Thai trader says that he did not receive any offers for wire rod these past two weeks. He reports that suppliers were trying to get orders at $561/t cif Bangkok for Malaysian-origin wire rod and at $570/t cif for Indonesian-origin wire rod during the last week of January.

“All my counterparties (in Asia) are still on holidays,” a Manila wire rod trader says. Offers for Chinese mesh-grade 6.5mm diameter SAE 1008 wire rod, exported without full payment of VAT, were last week at around $550/tonne cfr. Transactions previously took place at around $545/t cfr Manila in end-January. Around the same time, wire rod offers from leading blast furnace mills in Indonesia and Malaysia were last heard at $545-550/t fob.

Kallanish assesses SAE 1008 6.5mm-diameter wire rod at $545-550/t cfr Manila, unchanged on-week.