The European longs market has shown no major movements this week, as prices remain high due to the lack of material but, despite this, final consumers are not willing to buy, waiting for prices to roll back.
As for the Polish market, the situation seems to have reached a standoff. Long steel buyers are trying to resist price hikes, and those who can buy from the largest producers are the most favored. A wire rod seller in Poland has stated that the market is becoming more and more difficult, as the prices they are offering are too high for the local market. “This is the situation in Poland. The ones who can buy from the major producer can find material at €680/mt [delivered]. However, this producer only sells to selected customers. As a consequence, those who cannot buy from them must accept higher prices up to €720/mt [delivered], but this trend will not be sustainable for long”.
“Buyers misread the market. They had fixed projects at low prices at the beginning of the year and now they are trying to avoid incurring losses. Eventually they will accept the inevitable,” another source commented about the Polish market.
Further price hikes are expected in the local Polish market in June, by at least €25/mt, but most sources believe that - in the end - a €5/mt hike will materialize.
According to market sources, there have been offers for rebar and wire rod from Ukraine to the Baltic region at around €660/mt CPT and €680-690/mt CPT, respectively, and import offers from Algeria to the same region at €570/mt CFR for rebar and €580/mt CFR for wire rod.
In Spain, the average wire rod price in the domestic market has been reported at €690-720/mt CPT. No variations have been observed in exports towards the UK.
As for imports, Turkey has been offering at unchanged levels compared to last week, and rebar and wire rod have been reported at €550-565/mt CFR and €560-570/mt CFR, respectively. Egyptian offers have been reported at €560-565/mt for rebar and at €565-575/mt for wire rod and wire rod in coils. Finally, Algerian prices have been observed at €540-555/mt for rebar and around €560/mt for wire rod.
€1 = $1.16
