Billet importers wait for SE Asian market to bottom out
Billet from the CIS is now being offered at $530-540/tonne cfr Southeast Asia, compared to $540-550/t cfr a week ago, while offers for billet from Turkey are at $550-560/t cfr SE Asia. Regional importers including those in Vietnam and the Philippines are inactive. "Buyers want to wait and see. They are not keen on booking because they expect prices to come down," a regional trader tells Steel Business Briefing. Traders report some small-volume bookings of Russian-origin billet at $530-540/t cfr Thailand and around 30,000~40,000 t of 5sp/ps billet from Ukraine concluded at $520/t cfr Taiwan. Taiwanese trading sources also report that 5sp/ps billet from Russia was recently offered at $520/t cfr, and at $550/t cfr for vanadiumadded billet. Billet from Thailand was recently offered at $560-565/t cfr Vietnam while locally-produced billet there is currently offered at VND 10.5-10.7m/t ($554-564/t) excluding 10% VAT. “The Vietnamese re-rollers want to buy billet but do not want to import. Domestic billet is cheaper now,” an importer tells SBB. An import duty buy billet but do not want to import. Domestic billet is cheaper now,” an importer tells SBB. An import duty of 3-7% is levied on billet entering Vietnam. Regional importers are hesitating in their purchases because scrap prices are still soft and finished steel prices in domestic markets are weak. An optimistic trader says: “Prices are bottoming out. Buyers in the Philippines will be returning soon to book." He believes that US scrap suppliers will not cut their prices further.
Tokyo Steel cuts scrap prices for third time in a week
Tokyo Steel Manufacturing has decided to reduce all its scrap buying prices by ¥1,000/tonne ($11/t) effective from 5 June arrivals. The cut, announced on 4 June, made for the mini mill’s third in a week and took the total reduction to ¥2,500-4,000/t. Behind Tokyo Steel’s decision seems to be the fact that after slashing buying prices by ¥1,000-1,500/t for all works from 3 June, other mini mills clipped their prices in tandem. This resulted in scrap collectors making more deliveries to Tokyo Steel. One scrap trader explains that some mills are limiting arrivals or stopping accepting scrap, but Tokyo Steel is trying to lower its acceptance volumes by cutting prices. He noted that this condition will continue while scrap exports are weak. Last week saw no apparent change in movements of Japanese scrap for export, with prevailing H2 grade offer prices at around ¥33,000/t fob, almost the same as the last contracted price by Korean mills. Inquiries for Japanese scrap traders are not active.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Friday, June 4, 2010
Daily Steel News - 04 Jun 10
SE Asia: H-beam Prices May Bottomed Out
Thursday, 03 June 2010
Summary: 1) H-beam demand remains sluggish in South East Asia market, however traders suspect prices has bottomed out and due for recovery soon as impending government projects in the region has not been reduced. Currently, H-beams offered to the region are as follow:
a) Korea origins – RM2,546/t cfr Singapore
b) China origins – RM2,024/t cfr Viet Nam
c) Taiwan origins – RM2,481/t cfr Singapore
(Yahoo ! Currency Converter – 3rd June 2010 : US$1 = RM3.264)
The H-beam market in Southeast Asia has softened and buying interest is weak. Regional mills are aiming to maintain their export prices of imperial-sized H-beam to Singapore at base prices of $790/tonne cfr for Korean material and $780/t cfr for other origins, trading sources tell Steel Business Briefing.
This compares with offers at highs of $810/t cfr Singapore (but not concluded) just three weeks ago. An offer for Taiwanese-origin beams was recently made at $750-760/t cfr but the offer did not comprise the complete size range.
Mills are unwilling to trim their export prices further because they think that a market rebound is possible since raw material prices could be bottoming out. Offers are being given on an enquiry basis since the mills are unwilling to make open offers.
“Nobody’s going to buy if prices are cut further,” a trader notes on why the mills prefer to hold on to their prices. “Sentiment has changed but there is no change in demand for H-beams. We have not heard of any government in the region pulling back on projects using beams,” a Thai trader tells SBB.
H-beams under 350mm from China are offered at $610-620/t cfr Vietnam and there are stock lots being offered as low as $580/t cfr Vietnam, local trading sources tell SBB. “Demand in the market is very low. Buyers are taking a wait-and-see attitude,” says a Vietnamese trader.
Saudi’s June Rebar Prices Uncertain
Thursday, 03 June 2010
Summary: 1) According to market information, rebar buyers in Saudi are holding back their order until the release of June prices from local mills, but at the same time local mills are waiting for clearer picture on market demand to decide their June pricing! Currently rebars offered by Hadeed Sabic, one of the major local mill in Saudi, is around RM2,437 – 2,524/t.
(Yahoo ! Currency Converter – 3rd June 2010 : SAR10 = RM8.7033)
Saudi Arabian rebar buyers are holding off from placing new orders until prices for June are announced. Producers are working to understand the market sentiment for the rest of the summer, and decide on rebar prices for June accordingly.
Up to now the major local producer Hadeed Sabic has not yet announced new prices for June, and other producers prefer to wait till the beginning of next week to be sure of international market trends. Rebar might see a downward correction, market participants tell Steel Business Briefing.
The availability of lower priced import offers to the country – the most attractive market in the Middle East due to stability of prices since the beginning of the year – now seems to have created an expectation for a slight drop.
Authorities try to balance out the demand and international market prices, to avoid a crash in prices like that which happened in 2008. Local producers are planning to announce new prices for June, after analysing the market demand, risks from imported material and raw material prices, SBB learns from market participants.
Sabic’s current rebar prices is at around SAR 2,800-2,900/tonne ($747-773/t). Other local producers’ prices are slightly higher, and are likely to be closer to Sabic’s prices for June, SBB understands from the comments of market sources.
China: June Long Prices Maintained
Wednesday, 02 June 2010
Summary: 1) Chinese mills are maintaining their rebar and wire rod prices for early June delivery, currently these long prices are as follow:
a) Shagang – rebar (16-25mm) HRB335 – RM1,935/t inclusive 17% VAT
b) Shagang – wire rod (6.5mm) Q235 – RM2,054/t inclusive 17% VAT
c) Hangzhou (Shagang) – rebar (16-25mm) HRB335 – RM1,902 – 1,911/t inclusive 17% VAT
d) Shanghai (tier-two mill) – rebar (16-25mm) HRB335 – RM1,830 – 1,839/t inclusive 17% VAT
e) Beijing (Hebei) – rebar (16-25mm) HRB335 – RM2,002 – 2,007/t inclusive 17% VAT
(Yahoo ! Currency Converter – 3rd June 2010: RMB100 = RM47.7717)
Shagang has retained prevailing rebar and wire rod prices for early June delivery. Thus, the leading east-China mill’s 16-25mm HRB335 rebar and 6.5mm Q235 wire rod remain at RMB 4,050/tonne ($593/t) and RMB 4,300/t ($630/t) respectively, with 17% VAT.
Since mid-April, Shagang had slashed prices for rebar and wire rods by RMB 550/t ($81/t) and RMB 400/t ($59/t) respectively to reflect declining domestic market prices, Steel Business Briefing notes.
In the market, prices in Hangzhou for 16-25mm HRB335 rebar sourced from Shagang, had inched downwards by Tuesday by RMB 20/t ($3/t) or so from last Friday to about RMB 3,980-4,000/t ($583-586/t).
Shanghai prices for the same product, sourced from tier two mills, had softened slightly from last Thursday’s RMB 3,840-3,860/t ($562-565/t) to RMB 3,830-3,850/t ($561-564/t). In Beijing, offers for HRB335 rebar made by Hebei Iron & Steel had dropped to RMB 4,190-4,200/t ($613-615/t), down by about RMB 20/t from last Thursday. Some market watchers claim to have heard transaction prices of about RMB 4,160-4,170/t ($609-611/t).
A Shanghai trader maintained that before end-June, the market will experience another round of corrections, and that prices have yet to bottom out. “Futures prices once dropped to as low as RMB 4,150/t,” he says. “It’s also likely we’ll see spot prices return to the lows seen in late February of around RMB 3,600/t.”
On the futures market, Shanghai prices for August and October rebar contracts dropped RMB 50/t ($7/t) and RMB 59/t ($9/t) respectively on Tuesday from the previous day’s trade.
Taiwan: Rebar Prices Drop Again
Wednesday, 02 June 2010
Summary: 1) Weakening global scrap prices and demand are forcing Taiwanese mills to slash their rebar prices to the following:
a) Feng Shin (Taichung) – rebar (SD280) – medium sized – RM1,982/t
b) Wei Chih (Tainan) – rebar (SD280) – medium sized – RM1,941/t
c) Hai Kwang (Kaohsiung) – rebar (SD280) – medium sized – RM1,921/t
(Yahoo ! Currency Converter – 3rd June 2010: TWD100 = RM10.1603)
Taiwan’s leading rebar makers including Feng Hsin Iron & Steel, Hai Kwang Enterprise Corp and Wei Chih Steel Industrial Co continue to lower their domestic prices – this week by TWD 700/tonne ($22/t) – on weak global scrap prices.
The cuts take Feng Hsin’s and Wei Chih’s ex-works prices for SD280 medium-sized rebar to TWD 19,500/t ($605/t) and TWD 19,100/t ($593/t) respectively this week. Hai Kwang’s selling price for the same product dropped to TWD 18,900/t ($587/t) this week.
Officials continued to cite softening scrap prices as the prime reason for the price adjustments but all agree that demand is weak at the moment. “Customers just want to wait-and-see. They will only start buying when they expect raw material prices to rise,” Feng Hsin’s spokesman tells Steel Business Briefing.
Hai Kwang’s spokeswoman says buyers are staying away from the market as scrap prices are still falling. But she notes that customers’ inventory levels are becoming low.
Beginning mid-May Taiwanese rebar producers have tabled price cuts for three consecutive weeks that now total TWD 1,400-1,500/t ($43-47/t).
Feng Hsin is based in central Taichung, Wei Chih in southern Tainan and Hai Kwang in southern Kaohsiung.
Hyundai Trims Domestic Long Prices
Wednesday, 02 June 2010
Summary: 1) Weakening global scrap prices and strengthening of Korean Won, has prompted Hyundai Steel to cut its local long prices to the following:
a) Rebar – 10mm – RM2,149/t
b) H-beam – 300x300mm – RM2,468/t
(Yahoo ! Currency Converter – 3rd June 2010: TWD1000 = RM2.682)
Hyundai Steel has decided to cut domestic long product prices by KRW 30,000/tonne ($24/t) for June. The Korean mill points to softening domestic scrap prices to explain its decision, but doubtless the country’s weak construction steel market was also a major factor.
Effective 1 June, Hyundai’s price for rebars became KRW 801,000/t ($654/t) for 10mm diameter bars directly supplied to building contractors. The mill’s price for 300x300mm H-beams is now KRW 920,000/t ($751/t), Steel Business Briefing learns from the company.
“The price decline for long products this time is to reflect the cut we made for domestic scrap prices last month of KRW 30,000 (in total),” the mill says in a statement. It added that in fact, there was little justification for the cut in the finished product prices because of the Korean won’s strength against the US dollars through last month.
As Hyundai imports about 50% of its total scrap requirement, a stronger won makes dollar-denominated imported scrap more costly.
More likely, Hyundai’s chief motivation for slashing prices was because of stagnant market conditions at home, SBB notes. Low demand for rebar in Korea is sending inventory levels climbing by the week. Total stocks held by the country’s seven major producers had approached 300,000 t by the end of last week, up 30,000 t from a week earlier.
Market sources assume that with summer approaching and construction activity set to slow, the domestic market is unlikely to see any improvement through June.
Sluggish Demand & Falling Scrap Hampering UK Rebar Prices
Tuesday, 01 June 2010
Summary: 1) UK mills are trimming their rebar selling prices again as global scrap prices weaken, currently local rebar offers in UK is around RM2,164 – 2,212/t delivered. However at the same time, demand
remain sluggish coupled with the fact, buyers have restocked earlier and most buyers are adopting wait and see approach besides tempted by cheaper imports offered at RM2,116/t delivered.
(Yahoo ! Currency Converter – 3rd June 2010: £1 = RM4.8092)
Rebar prices in the UK have dropped again in connection with softening scrap prices, local traders and stockholders tell Steel Business Briefing.
Prices from UK producers Celsa and Thamesteel are pegged at around £450-460/tonne (€529-540/t) delivered, down from around £500/t a week or two ago.
Import penetration has increased, with import prices at around £440/t (€517/t) delivered, traders ascertain, and this may force the domestic mills to react. “There is a reasonable amount of imports coming in, enough to place pressure on local mills,” one trader says.
Activity is still very sluggish, as customers have restocked and are cautious in the face of uncertain scrap prices and market direction, sources concur. If scrap prices decrease substantially this month, following a drop in activity and in Turkish scrap buying prices, this could affect rebar prices, a stockist says.
Thamesteel has a good order book. However, it is behind on deliveries after a recent production stoppage and is unsure when they will be fulfilled, according to a note to customers obtained by SBB. Jeff Peanick, who joined Thamesteel as chief executive in January, is no longer listed as such on the company’s website. Thamesteel declined to comment on whether or not Peanick has left his position.
Egyptian Largest Rebar Mill Trims June Prices
Tuesday, 01 June 2010
Summary: 1) In facing sluggish demand during summer, Egypt largest rebar maker, Ezz Steel, is cutting its rebar prices by another RM144/t to RM2,046/t inclusive taxes for its June offers.
(Yahoo ! Currency Converter – 3rd June 2010: EGP100 = RM57.6169)
Egyptian steel producer Ezz Steel is reducing its rebar prices by EGP 250/tonne ($44/t). In June the company’s rebar price will be EGP 3,550/t ($627/t) including taxes.
Egyptian market was very slow in the last week of May, and the price cut had been expected. Reduced prices might trigger some demand, market sources hope, but consumption remains slow, and the summer period is not helping steel demand to recover, Steel Business Briefing was told.
The company also in a stock exchange filing said it has had no official notification from the Algerian authorities that its project to build a new steelworks there has been cancelled. As SBB reported, the Algerian government announced last week that the project would not go ahead.
Japan's Mills Lifting Rebar Prices for June
Monday, 31 May 2010
Summary: 1) Despite weakening global scrap prices, Japanese mills are hiking their June rebar prices to counter weakening other product prices! Currently rebar prices in Japan are as follow:
a) Kyoei Steel (Osaka) – rebar (16-25mm) – RM2,757/t June contracts
b) Kyoei Steel (Osaka) – rebar (13mm) – RM2,827/t June contracts
c) Tokyo Steel – rebar (base-size) – RM2,368/t delivered
d) Osaka – rebar (base-size) – RM2,297/t delivered
(Yahoo ! Currency Converter – 3rd June 2010: ¥100 = RM3.5338)
Kyoei Steel, Japan’s largest rebar producer, has decided to lift rebar prices at its Hirakata works in Osaka by ¥3,000/tonne ($33/t) for June contracts, Steel Business Briefing hears from the company.
The increase – Kyoei’s latest in a series that began in February – takes the price of its base size rebar (16-25mm) for June contracts to ¥78,000/t ($855/t) and that for 13mm bars to ¥80,000/t. So far this year, the Osaka-based mini mill has added ¥23,000/t to its rebar prices.
The price rise is aimed at countering weakening product prices in the market, a Kyoei spokesman tells SBB. Nakayama Steel Products and Daiwa Steel, both in Osaka, have also decided to lift their rebar prices by ¥3,000/t for June contracts. Kyoei is planning to lift prices by the same margin for bars produced at its Nagoya works in central Japan and at Yamaguchi in western Japan.
Kyoei argues that scrap prices are weakening but Japanese blast furnace and special steel makers are lifting their production and thus tightening the scrap supply-demand balance. The mini mill also fears rising exports of Japanese scrap may force local mills to lift their scrap buying prices, and thus increase production costs.
Tokyo Steel Manufacturing has kept its product prices unchanged for June. Its base-size rebar price remains at ¥64,000/t cif, equivalent to about ¥67,000/t delivered. But Tokyo Steel’s rebar output is comparatively small and its price adjustments have little impact on the market, a trader notes.
Current market prices of base-size rebars in Tokyo are around ¥68,000/t and those in Osaka are around ¥65,000/t, unchanged from mid-May.
Thursday, 03 June 2010
Summary: 1) H-beam demand remains sluggish in South East Asia market, however traders suspect prices has bottomed out and due for recovery soon as impending government projects in the region has not been reduced. Currently, H-beams offered to the region are as follow:
a) Korea origins – RM2,546/t cfr Singapore
b) China origins – RM2,024/t cfr Viet Nam
c) Taiwan origins – RM2,481/t cfr Singapore
(Yahoo ! Currency Converter – 3rd June 2010 : US$1 = RM3.264)
The H-beam market in Southeast Asia has softened and buying interest is weak. Regional mills are aiming to maintain their export prices of imperial-sized H-beam to Singapore at base prices of $790/tonne cfr for Korean material and $780/t cfr for other origins, trading sources tell Steel Business Briefing.
This compares with offers at highs of $810/t cfr Singapore (but not concluded) just three weeks ago. An offer for Taiwanese-origin beams was recently made at $750-760/t cfr but the offer did not comprise the complete size range.
Mills are unwilling to trim their export prices further because they think that a market rebound is possible since raw material prices could be bottoming out. Offers are being given on an enquiry basis since the mills are unwilling to make open offers.
“Nobody’s going to buy if prices are cut further,” a trader notes on why the mills prefer to hold on to their prices. “Sentiment has changed but there is no change in demand for H-beams. We have not heard of any government in the region pulling back on projects using beams,” a Thai trader tells SBB.
H-beams under 350mm from China are offered at $610-620/t cfr Vietnam and there are stock lots being offered as low as $580/t cfr Vietnam, local trading sources tell SBB. “Demand in the market is very low. Buyers are taking a wait-and-see attitude,” says a Vietnamese trader.
Saudi’s June Rebar Prices Uncertain
Thursday, 03 June 2010
Summary: 1) According to market information, rebar buyers in Saudi are holding back their order until the release of June prices from local mills, but at the same time local mills are waiting for clearer picture on market demand to decide their June pricing! Currently rebars offered by Hadeed Sabic, one of the major local mill in Saudi, is around RM2,437 – 2,524/t.
(Yahoo ! Currency Converter – 3rd June 2010 : SAR10 = RM8.7033)
Saudi Arabian rebar buyers are holding off from placing new orders until prices for June are announced. Producers are working to understand the market sentiment for the rest of the summer, and decide on rebar prices for June accordingly.
Up to now the major local producer Hadeed Sabic has not yet announced new prices for June, and other producers prefer to wait till the beginning of next week to be sure of international market trends. Rebar might see a downward correction, market participants tell Steel Business Briefing.
The availability of lower priced import offers to the country – the most attractive market in the Middle East due to stability of prices since the beginning of the year – now seems to have created an expectation for a slight drop.
Authorities try to balance out the demand and international market prices, to avoid a crash in prices like that which happened in 2008. Local producers are planning to announce new prices for June, after analysing the market demand, risks from imported material and raw material prices, SBB learns from market participants.
Sabic’s current rebar prices is at around SAR 2,800-2,900/tonne ($747-773/t). Other local producers’ prices are slightly higher, and are likely to be closer to Sabic’s prices for June, SBB understands from the comments of market sources.
China: June Long Prices Maintained
Wednesday, 02 June 2010
Summary: 1) Chinese mills are maintaining their rebar and wire rod prices for early June delivery, currently these long prices are as follow:
a) Shagang – rebar (16-25mm) HRB335 – RM1,935/t inclusive 17% VAT
b) Shagang – wire rod (6.5mm) Q235 – RM2,054/t inclusive 17% VAT
c) Hangzhou (Shagang) – rebar (16-25mm) HRB335 – RM1,902 – 1,911/t inclusive 17% VAT
d) Shanghai (tier-two mill) – rebar (16-25mm) HRB335 – RM1,830 – 1,839/t inclusive 17% VAT
e) Beijing (Hebei) – rebar (16-25mm) HRB335 – RM2,002 – 2,007/t inclusive 17% VAT
(Yahoo ! Currency Converter – 3rd June 2010: RMB100 = RM47.7717)
Shagang has retained prevailing rebar and wire rod prices for early June delivery. Thus, the leading east-China mill’s 16-25mm HRB335 rebar and 6.5mm Q235 wire rod remain at RMB 4,050/tonne ($593/t) and RMB 4,300/t ($630/t) respectively, with 17% VAT.
Since mid-April, Shagang had slashed prices for rebar and wire rods by RMB 550/t ($81/t) and RMB 400/t ($59/t) respectively to reflect declining domestic market prices, Steel Business Briefing notes.
In the market, prices in Hangzhou for 16-25mm HRB335 rebar sourced from Shagang, had inched downwards by Tuesday by RMB 20/t ($3/t) or so from last Friday to about RMB 3,980-4,000/t ($583-586/t).
Shanghai prices for the same product, sourced from tier two mills, had softened slightly from last Thursday’s RMB 3,840-3,860/t ($562-565/t) to RMB 3,830-3,850/t ($561-564/t). In Beijing, offers for HRB335 rebar made by Hebei Iron & Steel had dropped to RMB 4,190-4,200/t ($613-615/t), down by about RMB 20/t from last Thursday. Some market watchers claim to have heard transaction prices of about RMB 4,160-4,170/t ($609-611/t).
A Shanghai trader maintained that before end-June, the market will experience another round of corrections, and that prices have yet to bottom out. “Futures prices once dropped to as low as RMB 4,150/t,” he says. “It’s also likely we’ll see spot prices return to the lows seen in late February of around RMB 3,600/t.”
On the futures market, Shanghai prices for August and October rebar contracts dropped RMB 50/t ($7/t) and RMB 59/t ($9/t) respectively on Tuesday from the previous day’s trade.
Taiwan: Rebar Prices Drop Again
Wednesday, 02 June 2010
Summary: 1) Weakening global scrap prices and demand are forcing Taiwanese mills to slash their rebar prices to the following:
a) Feng Shin (Taichung) – rebar (SD280) – medium sized – RM1,982/t
b) Wei Chih (Tainan) – rebar (SD280) – medium sized – RM1,941/t
c) Hai Kwang (Kaohsiung) – rebar (SD280) – medium sized – RM1,921/t
(Yahoo ! Currency Converter – 3rd June 2010: TWD100 = RM10.1603)
Taiwan’s leading rebar makers including Feng Hsin Iron & Steel, Hai Kwang Enterprise Corp and Wei Chih Steel Industrial Co continue to lower their domestic prices – this week by TWD 700/tonne ($22/t) – on weak global scrap prices.
The cuts take Feng Hsin’s and Wei Chih’s ex-works prices for SD280 medium-sized rebar to TWD 19,500/t ($605/t) and TWD 19,100/t ($593/t) respectively this week. Hai Kwang’s selling price for the same product dropped to TWD 18,900/t ($587/t) this week.
Officials continued to cite softening scrap prices as the prime reason for the price adjustments but all agree that demand is weak at the moment. “Customers just want to wait-and-see. They will only start buying when they expect raw material prices to rise,” Feng Hsin’s spokesman tells Steel Business Briefing.
Hai Kwang’s spokeswoman says buyers are staying away from the market as scrap prices are still falling. But she notes that customers’ inventory levels are becoming low.
Beginning mid-May Taiwanese rebar producers have tabled price cuts for three consecutive weeks that now total TWD 1,400-1,500/t ($43-47/t).
Feng Hsin is based in central Taichung, Wei Chih in southern Tainan and Hai Kwang in southern Kaohsiung.
Hyundai Trims Domestic Long Prices
Wednesday, 02 June 2010
Summary: 1) Weakening global scrap prices and strengthening of Korean Won, has prompted Hyundai Steel to cut its local long prices to the following:
a) Rebar – 10mm – RM2,149/t
b) H-beam – 300x300mm – RM2,468/t
(Yahoo ! Currency Converter – 3rd June 2010: TWD1000 = RM2.682)
Hyundai Steel has decided to cut domestic long product prices by KRW 30,000/tonne ($24/t) for June. The Korean mill points to softening domestic scrap prices to explain its decision, but doubtless the country’s weak construction steel market was also a major factor.
Effective 1 June, Hyundai’s price for rebars became KRW 801,000/t ($654/t) for 10mm diameter bars directly supplied to building contractors. The mill’s price for 300x300mm H-beams is now KRW 920,000/t ($751/t), Steel Business Briefing learns from the company.
“The price decline for long products this time is to reflect the cut we made for domestic scrap prices last month of KRW 30,000 (in total),” the mill says in a statement. It added that in fact, there was little justification for the cut in the finished product prices because of the Korean won’s strength against the US dollars through last month.
As Hyundai imports about 50% of its total scrap requirement, a stronger won makes dollar-denominated imported scrap more costly.
More likely, Hyundai’s chief motivation for slashing prices was because of stagnant market conditions at home, SBB notes. Low demand for rebar in Korea is sending inventory levels climbing by the week. Total stocks held by the country’s seven major producers had approached 300,000 t by the end of last week, up 30,000 t from a week earlier.
Market sources assume that with summer approaching and construction activity set to slow, the domestic market is unlikely to see any improvement through June.
Sluggish Demand & Falling Scrap Hampering UK Rebar Prices
Tuesday, 01 June 2010
Summary: 1) UK mills are trimming their rebar selling prices again as global scrap prices weaken, currently local rebar offers in UK is around RM2,164 – 2,212/t delivered. However at the same time, demand
remain sluggish coupled with the fact, buyers have restocked earlier and most buyers are adopting wait and see approach besides tempted by cheaper imports offered at RM2,116/t delivered.
(Yahoo ! Currency Converter – 3rd June 2010: £1 = RM4.8092)
Rebar prices in the UK have dropped again in connection with softening scrap prices, local traders and stockholders tell Steel Business Briefing.
Prices from UK producers Celsa and Thamesteel are pegged at around £450-460/tonne (€529-540/t) delivered, down from around £500/t a week or two ago.
Import penetration has increased, with import prices at around £440/t (€517/t) delivered, traders ascertain, and this may force the domestic mills to react. “There is a reasonable amount of imports coming in, enough to place pressure on local mills,” one trader says.
Activity is still very sluggish, as customers have restocked and are cautious in the face of uncertain scrap prices and market direction, sources concur. If scrap prices decrease substantially this month, following a drop in activity and in Turkish scrap buying prices, this could affect rebar prices, a stockist says.
Thamesteel has a good order book. However, it is behind on deliveries after a recent production stoppage and is unsure when they will be fulfilled, according to a note to customers obtained by SBB. Jeff Peanick, who joined Thamesteel as chief executive in January, is no longer listed as such on the company’s website. Thamesteel declined to comment on whether or not Peanick has left his position.
Egyptian Largest Rebar Mill Trims June Prices
Tuesday, 01 June 2010
Summary: 1) In facing sluggish demand during summer, Egypt largest rebar maker, Ezz Steel, is cutting its rebar prices by another RM144/t to RM2,046/t inclusive taxes for its June offers.
(Yahoo ! Currency Converter – 3rd June 2010: EGP100 = RM57.6169)
Egyptian steel producer Ezz Steel is reducing its rebar prices by EGP 250/tonne ($44/t). In June the company’s rebar price will be EGP 3,550/t ($627/t) including taxes.
Egyptian market was very slow in the last week of May, and the price cut had been expected. Reduced prices might trigger some demand, market sources hope, but consumption remains slow, and the summer period is not helping steel demand to recover, Steel Business Briefing was told.
The company also in a stock exchange filing said it has had no official notification from the Algerian authorities that its project to build a new steelworks there has been cancelled. As SBB reported, the Algerian government announced last week that the project would not go ahead.
Japan's Mills Lifting Rebar Prices for June
Monday, 31 May 2010
Summary: 1) Despite weakening global scrap prices, Japanese mills are hiking their June rebar prices to counter weakening other product prices! Currently rebar prices in Japan are as follow:
a) Kyoei Steel (Osaka) – rebar (16-25mm) – RM2,757/t June contracts
b) Kyoei Steel (Osaka) – rebar (13mm) – RM2,827/t June contracts
c) Tokyo Steel – rebar (base-size) – RM2,368/t delivered
d) Osaka – rebar (base-size) – RM2,297/t delivered
(Yahoo ! Currency Converter – 3rd June 2010: ¥100 = RM3.5338)
Kyoei Steel, Japan’s largest rebar producer, has decided to lift rebar prices at its Hirakata works in Osaka by ¥3,000/tonne ($33/t) for June contracts, Steel Business Briefing hears from the company.
The increase – Kyoei’s latest in a series that began in February – takes the price of its base size rebar (16-25mm) for June contracts to ¥78,000/t ($855/t) and that for 13mm bars to ¥80,000/t. So far this year, the Osaka-based mini mill has added ¥23,000/t to its rebar prices.
The price rise is aimed at countering weakening product prices in the market, a Kyoei spokesman tells SBB. Nakayama Steel Products and Daiwa Steel, both in Osaka, have also decided to lift their rebar prices by ¥3,000/t for June contracts. Kyoei is planning to lift prices by the same margin for bars produced at its Nagoya works in central Japan and at Yamaguchi in western Japan.
Kyoei argues that scrap prices are weakening but Japanese blast furnace and special steel makers are lifting their production and thus tightening the scrap supply-demand balance. The mini mill also fears rising exports of Japanese scrap may force local mills to lift their scrap buying prices, and thus increase production costs.
Tokyo Steel Manufacturing has kept its product prices unchanged for June. Its base-size rebar price remains at ¥64,000/t cif, equivalent to about ¥67,000/t delivered. But Tokyo Steel’s rebar output is comparatively small and its price adjustments have little impact on the market, a trader notes.
Current market prices of base-size rebars in Tokyo are around ¥68,000/t and those in Osaka are around ¥65,000/t, unchanged from mid-May.
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