The European longs market has recorded stable or slightly rising prices this week, amid the summer holidays that have now begun for several players and the restocking activities for those who will start them shortly. The rebound of the Chinese market has also had an impact, especially on import prices.
As for the Italian rebar market, SteelOrbis' forecast last week proved to be accurate. The rising offers from mills, which had been reported at €270/mt ex-works base (€535/mt ex-works including regular extras), materialized this week in purchases between €240-260/mt ex-works base (€505-525/mt ex-works including regular extras), recording an increase in workable prices of about €20/mt week on week in the upper end of the range. "It's the usual pre-August flare-up, then activities will stop," an Italian trader commented. According to the representative of a steel mill, however, "paradoxically, it would have been better to wait to relaunch [prices]. Now customers are restocking, whereas if they had arrived in September with empty warehouses they would have accepted price increases more easily. In this way, we can’t leave out that [prices] will go back again in September". Meanwhile, the lack of trucks for deliveries, which are increasingly deferred, continues to weigh heavily on logistics. During summer, in fact, more transportation units are used for other kinds of deliveries (e.g., food), and some specific types of vehicles must comply with traffic restrictions for environmental reasons.
No major changes have been reported in the Italian wire rod market, and prices for drawing quality have remained unchanged at €610-620/mt delivered, whereas for mesh grade wire rod they have been reported at €590-605/mt delivered, also unchanged week on week.
In the export market, shipments from Italy are quiet, while as far as exports by rail and truck are concerned, the situation is similar to Italy. On the other hand, prices are expected to fall in Germany in the wake of scrap price declines recorded in July. As for Greece, rebar export prices have been reported at €570-580/mt FOB, up by €5-10/mt compared to the latest SteelOrbis surveys, while wire rod prices have been reported at €575/mt FOB, also up by €5/mt compared to the latest levels recorded. Still no movement has been reported in rebar prices from Spain to UK ports, which have remained unchanged week on week at €545/mt FOB.
Finally, the import market has been affected by increases recorded in export prices of Turkish material, which came in the wake of the rebound in Asian markets. Rebar and wire rod prices from Turkey have been recorded at €485-490/mt CFR and €490-495/mt CFR respectively. However, due to the exchange rate fluctuations (€1 = $1.18), these prices are up five points on dollar basis compared to last week but are down by about €5/mt week on week. As for prices from North Africa, Egyptian rebar and wire rod offers have been reported at €490-495/mt CFR and €500-505/mt CFR respectively.
