Egyptian and Algerian rebar and wire rod producers have been mainly concentrating on their domestic markets, where, despite the moderate to slow business activity, prices have been maintained at high levels. Still, the suppliers are also active in exports and particularly Egyptian sellers have provided slight discounts amid a lack of overseas demand. Moreover, buyers believe further $5-10/mt discounts on the current offer levels from both Egypt and Algeria may be possible, considering the softer price levels from Turkey, weaker scrap sentiment, and generally poor market demand.
Ex-Egypt longs offers have once again softened by $5-10/mt over the past week, following the general downward market trend. Currently, the mills are offering rebar at $595-600/mt FOB and wire rod at $605-615/mt FOB, both for July shipments. The overseas business activity has been rather quiet, especially in the European market. “Buyers from Bulgaria and almost all EU countries prefer to wait until the announcement of the new EU quota regime,” a market player told SteelOrbis. In the domestic market, Egyptian rebar prices are at EGP 37,000-39,800/mt ($625-670/mt) ex-works depending on the supplier.
One of the Algerian longs producers have restarted offering rebar and wire rod for export, mainly targeting European destinations. The official offers have been announced at $600/mt FOB for rebar and $610/mt FOB for wire rod, both for June shipments. However, buyers report that, for serious orders, workable prices could go down to $585-595/mt FOB.
Algeria’s domestic rebar and wire rod prices have remained at DZD 117,000/mt and DZD 118,000/mt ex-works, which equals to around $735/mt and $745/mt ex-works, respectively. The demand is reported to be at moderate levels with sufficient sales by the mills, considering that one of the key producers is still not fully in the picture due to lengthy repair works.
Offers in the local currencies include 19 percent VAT in Algeria, 14 percent VAT in Egypt.
$1 = DZD 133.51.
$1 = EGP 52.
