The European longs market has been rather sluggish this week, as it appears that selling activity has already ended ahead of the Easter break. Tensions surrounding the announcement of US tariffs have eased, but, at the same time, the collapse of Turkey’s import scrap market has generated uncertainties among market players, which have resulted in a decline in longs prices both in the Turkish and North African markets.
Trade has been on the low side this week, and both scrap purchases and longs sales have slowed down considerably. Traders of longs - especially rebar - in the Italian market also report little movement. Ex-works base prices are still around €340/mt (€605/mt ex-works including regular extras), although some declines of €10/mt have also been recorded. "The market is already moving towards closures," an official at an Italian steel mill said. "The longs market is not that lively, but there was still an increase in April [sales] prices compared to March," another Italian mill official commented. Regarding May predictions, he was cautious, noting, "There are too many variables. It's impossible to predict how it will go."
In the Italian wire rod market, on the other hand, sources reported decent demand, and the Egyptian retail wire rod prices in Italy stand at around €620/mt delivered. No changes were reported in the Italian wire rod local market, where prices remain stable week on week at €635-650/mt delivered for drawing quality and €605-620/mt for mesh grade quality.
In Poland, mesh grade quality wire rod stands at €620-640/mt delivered, while drawing quality wire rod stands at €645-670/mt delivered. In general, the Polish longs market performed well in March, with demand strengthening perhaps due to the influence of the improved mood in the German market.
On the exports side, rebar and wire rod prices from Greece remain unchanged week on week at €595-600/mt FOB and €590/mt FOB respectively, while rebar export prices from Spain to the UK stand at around €580-585/mt FOB, down €10-15/mt compared to last week.
Import offers of rebar and wire rod from Turkey have decreased, standing at €515-530/mt CFR and €530-540/mt CFR respectively, down by €25-40/mt and €25-35/mt compared to last week. Import wire rod prices from an Algerian mill stand at €500/mt CFR, whereas import rebar prices from the same mill stand at €510/mt CFR. The other major Algerian mill has remained out of the market this week, as prices were assessed as too low.
Price changes are calculated based on the exchange rate of €1 = $ 0.88 (April 17).