Asian rebar prices flat ahead of Labor Day holidays

Asian rebar prices were unchanged Wednesday for a second day as market activities cooled down with unchanged offers in Hong Kong due to the upcoming Labor Day holidays, starting Thursday.

S&P Global Platts assessed 16-20 mm diameter BS500 rebar at $396/mt FOB China actual weight, unchanged day on day.

Both Chinese spot and futures markets were almost flat ahead of the holidays.

In the Beijing retail market, spot 18-25 mm diameter HRB400 rebar was assessed at Yuan 3,525/mt ($499/mt) ex-stock actual weight, including 13% value added tax, unchanged day on day.

The most actively traded October 2020 rebar futures contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed at Yuan 3,302/mt, up Yuan 10/mt, or 0.3%, day on day.

In the seaborne market, market activity was not active as buyers stayed at sidelines with enough stock in a holiday mood.

In Hong Kong, offers remained steady at $407/mt CFR actual weight for June shipment from India and at $409/mt CFR from Russia, said two stockists. These offers were equivalent to $398-$402/mt FOB China actual weight, assuming freight of 14/mt after normalization of quality and quantity to S&P Global Platts assessment standard.

Most buyers had enough or full stock, so were not in a mood for new purchases.

In Singapore, the market was still quiet under COVID-19 circuit breaker measures, with no fresh offers received Wednesday. Fabricators remained at sidelines. In the meantime, some fabricators said it was likely for some of them to resume production in early May for some urgent and strategic projects.

-- Analyst Joy Zhuo, Analyst Chelsea Ye