No major changes have been reported in the European longs market this week. Most discussions among players have been focusing on the long-awaited release of official benchmarks and default values for CBAM calculation costs, as product prices seem to have remained stable and demand is weak ahead of the Christmas holidays.
“We are trying to sustain our [rebar sales] prices,” a source at an Italian mill said. Reported levels, however, have not changed since last week’s increase attempts, remaining in the range of €300-320/mt ex-works base (€560-580/mt ex-works including regular extras).
The same applies to the Italian wire rod market, where December prices have consolidated at €570-585/mt delivered for drawing quality and €550-565/mt delivered for mesh quality.
Market talk has been mainly focusing on anticipation regarding CBAM growing among steel market players in all segments in Europe. In fact, according to some rumors circulating, official EU benchmarks and default values for CBAM calculation costs are to be announced on December 16. “I hope [the values] will help us figure this out, because everything is so unclear,” a source commented. “We’ll have some fun next week,” another source added.
In the meantime, no updates have been released for rebar export prices in Spain, which remain at €570/mt FOB.
Little upward movements, however, have been reported in the import market from Turkey. With the euro-dollar exchange rate unchanged at 1.17, Turkish rebar prices have been reported at €510-520/mt CFR and wire rod prices at €520-530/mt CFR, up by around €5/mt compared to last week. Prices from Egypt have been reported at €500/mt CFR for rebar - up by €5/mt week on week - and at €505-510/mt CFR for wire rod, stable week on week. Finally, prices from Algeria have decreased by €15/mt week on week, standing at €490/mt CFR and €495/mt CFR, respectively, for rebar and wire rod.