Turkish rebar producers' offers for the European market have this week been at the price level of $740-750/mt FOB. The same producers' offers to countries such as Syria and Israel have been at $725-730/mt FOB. It would be difficult to describe Turkish exports to Europe as being active. Buyers in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf regions currently prefer to wait. Meanwhile, it has been heard that 125,000 tons of rebar were sold from Turkey to the US this week. Turkish rebar may be more active in Europe if the European domestic markets manage to continue their upward trend in February following the rallying seen in the US market.
Prices in the Italian domestic rebar market have not registered any great change from the previous week. The base prices in the local Italian market are at €300/mt ($441/mt). The price level of rebar in the local Italian market is at around €495-500/mt ($728-735/mt)) ex-works, on actual weight basis with 60-day open account, excluding VAT. However, producers will increase their extras by €20/mt ($29/mt) as of February. Extras for medium-size rebar will be €215/mt ($316/mt) as of the same month. On the other hand, the Italian producers have been offering rebars for export at the price level of €500/mt ($735/mt) FOB.
Producers in the Spanish local rebar market announced that they increased their base prices from €300/mt ($441/mt) to €350/mt ($514/mt) last week. They had also stated that for this week they were considering increasing prices further by €30/mt ($44/mt). However, the rumored increase in question for the current week has not materialized. It is also possible to see base price levels of €320-350/mt ($467-514/mt). The price level of Spanish origin 12 mm B500S rebar in Spain's local market is at around €540-570/mt ($794-838/mt) ex-works on actual weight basis with 30-day deferred payment, excluding VAT. The Spanish producers have been mentioning that they will increase to the expected price level of above €350/mt ($514/mt) as of February.
The Spanish and Portuguese producers are not as active now in the export markets as they were in October and November. Producers in the countries in question are not eager to export for price levels which are lower than local market levels. There are some purchase offers from the US market at the level of $520/mt ($764/mt) FOB on actual weight basis. However, producers in the Iberian Peninsula are not inclined to export at this price.
Rebar prices in southeastern Europe slightly increased this month. Domestic producer offers in the local Romanian rebar market are at the price level of $710/mt. The sales price of imported rebar is at $695-700/mt. The prices for small tonnages in the Bulgarian local market are at BGN 1,000/mt ($752/mt). It is expected that producers in the southeastern European domestic rebar markets will increase their prices as of February.
Prices increased in the overall European markets in January. It would be difficult to say that end-user demand in Europe is very strong at the current time. However, traders have accepted the producers' prices due to the quite low stock levels and the high import offers. On the import side in Europe, no bookings were heard due to the considerably higher import offers compared to the local market prices, apart from some exceptional position deals which were made. However, if the expected increases in February do materialize, some import bookings for late March/early April may be heard soon.