The prevailing pessimistic mood in the longs market in the Mediterranean region, due to weak scrap prices and low demand, particularly given the slow European demand ahead of the holidays, has been taking its toll on prices from the major suppliers. However, some of them are trying to resist export discounts due to a better situation in their local markets.
Currently, Turkey is offering at $580-590/mt FOB for rebar and at $590/mt FOB for wire rod, for August shipments, down around $20/mt over the past two weeks. However, despite the discounts and the still weak scrap prices, Turkish prices are among the highest in the region.
In fact, one of the Algerian mills is offering at $540/mt FOB for rebar and close to $550/mt FOB for wire rod, down by around $30/mt since early July, while another Algerian mill is offering at $570/mt FOB for both products, down $10/mt over the past week.
In Egypt, the suppliers are keeping prices at $560-570/mt FOB for both products for August-September shipments. Despite pressure from buyers, Egyptian mills are resisting giving large discounts. “Mills now have the new option of selling in dollars in the local market,” a producer told SteelOrbis. This development has somewhat eased the trade domestically and taken some of the pressure off mills to be aggressive on exports in order to bring in dollars. According to sources, the latest domestic longs prices from the main supplier in Egypt are at $840/mt ex-works, including 14 percent VAT. At the same time, the market in Egypt is protected from imports by the recently renewed antidumping regulation.
Asian suppliers are also present in the market with offers from Malaysia and Indonesia stable at $530-535/mt FOB, with the freight rate at around $40/mt to Turkey and $50-60/mt to the European market. Vietnamese producers are offering at $550-555/mt FOB to the same regions, which is not considered workable.