The Philippine wire rod import market saw lower-priced offers this week, Kallanish notes. These offers are believed to be from speculative suppliers.

There are some indicative offer prices at $568-570/tonne cfr on Wednesday, a Manila trader says. A buyer has said that he booked a December shipment cargo at $565/t cfr, the trader says. Other offers for Chinese wire rod are prevailing at $580-585/t cfr but these are believed to be back-to-back offers.

Even for a short sale, $565/t cfr Manila is too low, a Chinese trader says Thursday. He is currently offering material for end-December/early January shipment at $585/t cfr.

Last week, 3,500 tonnes of Russian wire rod was sold at $570/t cfr Manila. The price is lower than, and not representative of, the current market level because it would be shipped together with a billet order from the same Russian mill to form a bulk shipment.

SAE 1008 6.5mm diameter wire rod is assessed by Kallanish on Thursday at $570-575/t cfr Manila, down from $580/t cfr.

In Vietnam, offers for wire rod from China are prevailing at $565-570/t cfr. “Buyers are very cautious, everyone things that the market will go down some more,” a Vietnamese trader notes. Domestic wire rod prices in Vietnam are at the equivalent of $570-575/t.