The European longs market has remained sluggish this week, and both local and export prices have registered some price declines. Due to an industrial sector lacking momentum - starting with the slowdown in the German economy - and religious as well as summer holidays approaching in several countries, prices of long steel have lost between €5/mt and €10/mt on average.
Rebar prices in Italy have marked a decrease of €10/mt compared to last week, falling to €270-280/mt ex-works base (€535-545/mt ex-works including regular extras), with low levels even at around €255-260/mt ex-works base (€520-525/mt ex-works including regular extras) for large-volume orders. Demand is declining in the local market due to uncertainties related to international and seasonal factors. At the same time, a paradoxical situation is continuing in the local Italian market. Scrap prices tend to increase due to the lack of available material, while rebar prices are falling due to almost non-existent demand. Remaining in the Italian market, there have been no changes in wire rod prices, which are stable week on week at €625-640/mt delivered for drawing quality wire rod and at €610-625/mt returned for mesh quality wire rod. This is because wire rod demand traditionally performs better than rebar demand.
As for exports, SteelOrbis has not detected any change in longs prices from Greece this week, whereas rebar prices from Spain to UK ports stand at around €560/mt FOB, down by €20/mt compared to last week.
Finally, in the import market, rebar prices from Turkey have been reported at €515-525/mt CFR and also as low as €510/mt CFR. Wire rod prices of the same origin, on the other hand, have been reported at around €525-535/mt CFR. Import prices of rebar and wire rod from Algeria have been reported at €520-525/mt CFR and €515-525/mt CFR, respectively. Finally, wire rod prices from Indonesia have been reported at €535/mt CFR. All prices are based on the exchange rate €1 = €0.89 (European Central Bank, May 29), and have marked decreases on dollar basis compared to the previous week but increases on euro basis due to the strengthening of the US currency.