Malaysian steel mills have raised rebar prices by 50 ringgit ($17) per tonne this week as demand improved after the Hari Raya holiday.

Mills are offering rebar at 2,300-2,350 ringgit per tonne this week, up from 2,300 ringgit per tonne two weeks ago.

"The mills stopped operations for almost two weeks for Hari Raya. Many buyers need to restock now, thus the higher sales," a mill official in Malaysia said.

"Some mills are at full capacity now as they are still trying to deliver old orders made before Hari Raya, on top of the new orders," another mill official said.

Strong rebar demand may continue for another one to two weeks, the officials said.

"Sales are good now because some buyers have nothing in their warehouses anymore. But after we deliver the goods, demand may become sluggish again," the second official said.

"We are just raising prices while we can. Billet and scrap prices have remained very firm, and we need to cover our costs," he added.

Billet import prices into Southeast Asia touched $700 per tonne cfr this week on stronger demand and firm scrap prices.

Buyers in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines are buying billet at $690-700 per tonne cfr this week, up from $690-695 cfr two weeks ago, sources said.

Suppliers have raised scrap offers into Malaysia as well this week.

Offers of HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix) in containers from Europe, the USA and Australia stood at $485-495 per tonne cfr, up from $480-495 cfr two weeks ago.

• [Editor:editor]