Continued strength has been observed in the past week in the southern European merchant bar market in spite of the lack of demand. It seems that merchant bar prices in southern Europe will maintain their strength as long as semi-finished prices fly high.
In the past week, merchant bars of 140 mm and below have been offered in the price range of TRY 1,645-1,760/mt ($1,336-1,428/mt) ex-works, excluding VAT. It is heard that traders with previously-taken positions have been offering at lower levels.
Looking at the Turkish merchant bar export market, it is observed that the difficult days for the market are continuing. The high price levels have been causing problems as regards demand. With the Chinese producers offering material at considerably lower price levels to the Middle East, the Turkish producers continue to face great difficulties in exporting merchant bars to this region.
In the past week, Chinese producers have offered angles for export at $1,000/mt FOB on actual weight basis for August shipments. In addition, 140-160-180-220-250 mm IPE has been offered from China at $1,000-1,030/mt FOB, flat bars have been offered at $1,100-1,300/mt FOB and squares have been offered at $1,100/mt FOB - all on theoretical weight basis weight basis and also for August shipments. Meanwhile, Turkish producers have offered angles for export at $1,400-1,420/mt FOB on actual weight basis for August shipments. In addition, flat bars have been offered at $1,410-1,430/mt FOB, 80-100-120 mm IPE has been offered at $1,450-1,460/mt FOB and 80-100-120 mm IPE AA has been offered at $1,460-1,470/mt FOB - all on actual weight basis and also for August shipments.
Turning to the Romanian domestic merchant bar market, it is heard that the small and medium size merchant bars have been offered to the local market in the past week at price levels of €820-850/mt ($1,281-1,328/mt) ex-works, excluding VAT.
It is observed that merchant bar base prices in the Spanish domestic market have increased slightly in the past week. It is reported that the increasing prices have been causing trouble in terms of end-user demand, and that the producers have been experiencing difficulties in selling the material in this country. For this reason, it is heard that some producers in Spain may reduce their merchant bar output and may turn their attention instead to billet production and billet exports.