There has been little activity in the southern European longs market, where customers are still waiting and demanding further price reductions, and some mills are already talking about stopping production.
In the local Italian market, prices have been reconfirmed at €460-480/mt ex-works base for rebar (€725-745/mt ex-works including regular extras), and customers are still waiting.
Local Italian SAE1006 wire rod prices are now in the range of €680-690/mt DAP northern Italy, down another €10/mt on the upper end from last week. "Demand for wire rod remains low in Italy due to the weakness in the downstream construction segment and market expectations," commented an Italian trader.
In the export segment, customers are also looking for reductions. Ex-Italy rebar is currently offered at €620/mt ex-works via truck, mesh quality wire rod is offering at €660-670/mt delivered, and SAE1006 wire rod at €680-700/mt delivered. "One or two factories have already planned production stops of about a week," an Italian source commented, adding, "By now, with energy and production costs, it is cheaper for us to stop than to produce and sell below cost."
In Spain, according to one source, the price has dropped again, with the source stating, "We are talking about €680/mt delivered for SAE1006 wire rod and €660/mt delivered for mesh quality."
Ex-Greece offers do not appear to have fallen below €635/mt FOB for rebar and €655/mt FOB for wire rod, but only small quantities have been sold, according to a source.
There was also little activity in the import market, where offers were heard from Turkey this week at $660/mt FOB for rebar and at $670/mt FOB for wire rod. Wire rod offers have been reported from Ukraine at €660-670/mt DAP for June shipment, while Southeast Asia and Malaysia are reported at €560-580/mt delivered to southern European ports. However, there has been talk in the market regarding a sizeable sale of wire rod from Malaysia at $595/mt CFR to the EU.