The European longs market has registered slightly higher levels week on week, showing that the upward pressure emerging during the SteelOrbis 2026 Spring Conference & 94th IREPAS Meeting held in Amsterdam on April 26-28 is starting to materialize.
In the local rebar market in Italy, mills have asked for increases of €20/mt week on week, bringing desired prices to €460/mt ex-works base (€720/mt ex-works including regular extras). However, according to market players, these are only theoretical prices. Actual deals are still closed at €440/mt ex-works base (€700/mt ex-works including regular extras), i.e., the same price being consolidated that was consolidated last week, which still represents an increase of €50-60/mt compared to the beginning of April. Despite this, demand is still struggling to emerge, as in the wire rod market in Italy, where the new desired prices of €720/mt delivered for drawing quality are failing to convince mills’ customers.
"It seems that the Italian wire rod market has run aground slightly. I believe that many customers bought at high prices in April and now they can no longer pass on these costs to the finished product, or at least they do not have sufficient margins," a source at an Italian manufacturer said.
Currently, an unusual situation is emerging in the longs market in Italy. Although - theoretically - the lack of wire rod should push prices up and the excess of rebar should drag them down, the scenario seems to be opposite. The prices of rebar are rising, while those of wire rod remain stable at the same levels, or are even slightly lower.
"It is indeed odd that wire rod prices are at the same level or slightly lower than rebar, also because the supply of rebar is significantly higher compared to wire rod," a source commented, adding, "This dynamic can occur, but it represents a distortion in the market."
The picture is similar in the rest of Europe. Despite the restart of ArcelorMittal's furnace No. 3 at the Dąbrowa Górnicza plant in Poland, "there is still a significant shortage of wire rod", and prices for drawing quality are standing at quite high levels, equal to €700-710/mt delivered, while for mesh quality they are standing at €690-700/mt delivered. In addition, other producers are currently absent due to the unfavorable market conditions.
In Germany, on the other hand, customers seem to have accepted the price increases requested during the Tube&Wire fair in Düsseldorf, and both rebar and wire rod prices in the domestic market are currently stable at high levels. Here, €710-720/mt delivered has been reported for drawing quality wire rod, while prices for rebar are lower by about €10/mt (€700-710/mt delivered).
In the local market in Spain, prices are standing at even higher levels for both rebar and wire rod, but according to a market player, "Demand is at a standstill, for the moment." Also in Spain, export prices for rebar have been reported at around €690/mt FOB to UK ports, while for wire rod the price for EU countries has been reported at around €660/mt FOB. Ex-Greece FOB offers to southern European ports have been reported at €660/mt for wire rod and €630/mt for rebar.
In the import markets, rebar prices from Turkey have been reported at around €565-570/mt CFR, up by €15/mt on the lower end of the range week on week, whereas wire rod prices have been reported at €565-575/mt CFR, up by about €5/mt week on week with a stable euro-dollar exchange rate of 1.17. For Egyptian origin, offers for rebar have been reported at €555-565/mt CFR, whereas wire rod stands at €565-575/mt CFR. Both levels are up €5-15/mt week on week.
