Higher steel scrap prices, surging longs prices in Turkey, risky billet sourcing from Asia, coupled with more complicated and costly logistics, have resulted in another increase in long steel export indications from North Africa, particularly from Egypt. Some mills have already set higher offers this week, while some have just said they intend to increase their prices shortly. Still, the uptrend is attributed more to the abovementioned factors and is not quite supported by export demand so far.
The latest rebar export indications from Egypt for April-May shipments have been set at $590-600/mt FOB, up from $580/mt FOB seen last week. The current wire rod export prices are evaluated at $600-615/mt FOB for the same lead time, up from $590/mt FOB offers seen earlier. Ex-Turkey rebar and wire rod offers are now settled at $590-600/mt and $595-610/mt FOB, both up by around $20-30/mt over the past week.
In the domestic market, Egypt’s local rebar prices from Ezz Steel remain at EGP 37,000/mt ($614/mt) ex-works, down by around $6/mt due to currency fluctuations. Small and medium rebar producers in Egypt have been offering at EGP 34,000-36,000/mt ($565-598/mt) ex-works. Most market players are expecting domestic prices to increase starting from April 1, based on much higher import scrap, the general uptrend in export price levels for rebar and wire rod in the region, as well as increased logistics costs. “Local prices [for longs] are much lower than export indications and there should be an increase, although the government may be pushing producers to postpone it a bit,” a local market source told SteelOrbis.
In the billet segment, the domestic prices in Egypt are at EGP 30,000-31,000/mt ($498-515/mt ex-works, down around $5/mt over the week due to the weaker pound. The local billet prices are expected to move up in line with the anticipated uptrend in the rebar segment. Import billet offers in Egypt remain indicative. Chinese billet is reportedly available at $520-525/mt CFR, while Russian and Donbass material is at $485-490/mt CFR. “There is no taker for billet at these prices. The offers might be justified by outside factors but they are not supported by the local Egyptian market reality,” a rebar producer said.
Prices in US dollar do not include 14 percent VAT.
$1 = EGP 52.83