Flats: In August, Vietnam's commercial-grade hot-rolled coil (HRC) market faced a period of cautious trading, influenced by ongoing trade investigations and a notable drop in Chinese steel prices. 

Longs: The Southeast Asian rebar import market experienced a pattern of initial decline followed by a rebound throughout August, heavily influenced by volatility in the Chinese steel sector.

Semis: In August, the ASEAN billet market experienced heightened trading activity coupled with a persistent drop in prices. Billets from both China and ASEAN countries vied for market share by offering increasingly lower prices. Chinese traders took advantage of the situation by securing a significant volume of forward cargoes, effectively shorting the market.

BF Raw Materials: The seaborne iron ore market saw a rise and then fall throughout the first half of August, and then began to recover at the end of August. The implementation of the new rebar standard triggered a market sell-off, but construction steel inventories also fell rapidly as a result, supporting steel and raw material prices. On the macro side, commodity futures, including iron ore, were stronger, driven by expectations of US interest rate cuts.

EAF Raw Materials: The Kanto Tetsugen monthly Japanese scrap export tender closed lower for August. With the recent forex movements of the yen against the US dollar, the drop in yen masks a slight increase in USD-denominated values.

Country Trade Data:

• Singapore
• Thailand
• Philippines
• Malaysia
• Indonesia
• Vietnam

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