The sentiment in the European longs market has been mostly unchanged this week, with market players still reporting a pessimistic outlook for the coming days. The complicated international situation - the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, new turnarounds in US tariff policies and the euro-dollar exchange rate still being unfavorable for European sales - as well as the approach of the summer holidays are pushing operators aside and making them wait for better times.
The local Italian longs market showed new declines in rebar prices, “but believe me, no one is selling at these levels,” an Italian source at a mill commented. “It’s just that everyone is getting more and more aggressive, and it is causing a market stalemate,” he concluded. According to SteelOrbis’ information, in fact, local rebar prices in Italy have declined by a further €10/mt on the lower side this week, standing at €220-230/mt ex-works base (€485-495/mt ex-works including regular extras), even though some sources still report €240/mt ex-works base (€505/mt ex-works including regular extras). Rebar demand in the Italian market remains weak, still covered by adequate offers.
Local Italian mills and traders are still reporting logistic difficulties, with few trucks available for deliveries, very high prices and traffic jams that will start with the beginning of the summer season.
The situation is similar in the Italian wire rod segment, where prices have remained stable week on week but “the market response is very slow”, a source said. Local wire rod prices have been reported at €610-625/mt delivered for drawing quality and at €595-610/mt delivered for mesh quality.
In the eastern Europe, especially Poland and Slovakia, sources have reported a slow market for both rebar and wire rod, with rebar prices in Poland reported at around €570-575/mt delivered.
As for exports, ex-Greece rebar and wire rod prices showed no changes, remaining at €575/mt FOB and €570/mt FOB, respectively. Ex-Spain rebar prices to UK ports, instead, showed a €5-10/mt decline compared to last week, standing at €545/mt FOB. Ex-Italy rebar has been reported at €540/mt FOB.
In the import market, Turkish rebar and wire rod have been reported at €480-490/mt CFR and €490-495/mt CFR respectively, while prices for Algerian material have been reported at €510/mt CFR for both. Egyptian rebar has been reported at €490-495/mt CFR, whereas wire rod stands at €500-505/mt CFR. Malaysian and Indonesian wire rod have been reported at around €490/mt CFR in both cases.
€1 = $1.17 (European Central Bank, July 10)