Price declines and lack of demand continue to be seen in the southern Europe merchant bar market, and so the market players are maintaining their wait-and-see policy for the time being.
The most conspicuous feature of last week's southern Europe merchant bar market was the difficulty experienced by producers in giving definite price levels. While prices were slackening in Turkey and Spain last week, the Italian market in particular was characterized by price uncertainty.
Turkish merchant bar prices remained unchanged last week (37th week of the year) compared to the previous week. Due to changes in the $/TRY exchange rate, the price levels varied a bit. In the 37th week, the price levels of merchant bars in the local Turkish market were at TRY 1,020-1,370/mt ($812-1,091/mt)
The softening in the offers of the Turkish merchant bar producers still continued during last week. The most conspicuous development seen last week was the refusal of some producers to decrease their price below $900/mt, though some other producers did reduce their prices below the level in question. Although offer prices have been slackening week by week, no upward movement in the demand level has been observed in recent weeks. Buyers are delaying their purchases due to the continuously declining price levels. Rapidly decreasing billet prices are triggering the expectation of finished steel offers at lower price levels. Of course, greater price clarity will be brought by actual acceptance of offers. In the 37th week, Turkish rolling mills were offering angles for export at $870-900/mt FOB on actual weight basis for late September shipments. In addition, flat bars were being offered at $880-910/mt FOB, 80-100-120 mm IPE was being offered at $1,020-1,040/mt FOB, IPN-UPN were being offered at $880-910/mt FOB and 80-100-120 mm IPE AA was being offered at $1,030-1,050/mt FOB - all on actual weight basis and also for late September shipments. It was also rumored that last week there were offers at price levels $20-30/mt lower than the abovementioned levels.
In Spain's domestic merchant bar market, where demand levels have been quite low in recent months, no momentum is currently observed. Although the producers in this market have published their new price lists, it is said that there may be sales at price levels lower than those in the price lists. Last week the Spanish mills were offering merchant bars for their domestic market at €740-760/mt ($1,057-1,085/mt) delivered to customer, excluding VAT, on actual weight basis for 15-30 day deferred payment. On the export side, it was heard that they were offering small sized IPEs at €800/mt ($1,141/mt) FOB.
Looking at the Italian domestic merchant bar market, price uncertainty appears to be the defining feature of this market. Producers have not reshaped their price levels after the holidays. However, it is expected that price levels will gain new shape in Italy in the upcoming days.
In general, no very important developments were observed last week in the southern European merchant bar market: accordingly, market players have continued to maintain their wait-and-see stance.