Having enjoyed almost a month of holidays, most of the European markets have returned from their break with increases in their rebar prices. With the conclusion of their holidays, the European rebar producers have reflected the global raw material and semi-finished steel prices in their finished steel prices and think that the resulting price increases will meet with a positive response on the demand side.
Southern Europe appears to the region where the most obvious increases in the rebar markets have been observed with the end of the holidays. Spanish rebar producers did not even wait for the end of the holiday to raise their price levels, increasing their rebar prices in both the local and export markets; the Spanish producers have offered rebars at €380-390/mt delivered to customer excluding VAT (for the local market) and at €370-380/mt FOB (for exports). Meanwhile, various price levels have been heard in this week in the neighboring country of Portugal. Some Portuguese producers have increased their prices very recently, whereas others are planning to raise their prices in the coming days - thus giving rise to price variation in the Portuguese market. Rebar prices in Portugal's domestic market are currently at $380-395/mt delivered to customer excluding VAT.
Meanwhile, Greek producers have increased their rebar offers by €40/mt upon their return from the holidays. Thus, new rebar prices in this country's local market have reached levels of €400-420/mt delivered to customer excluding VAT. In the coming days it will be seen whether these prices will gain acceptance, or to what degree they will be accepted.
However, regarding Italy, the holidays do not yet seem to have concluded in this country. While some local producers have increased their prices, others have chosen to observe the developments in the market first. As of this week, rebar prices in the local Italian market are at the average level of €365/mt ex-works excluding VAT. Meanwhile, the Italian producers are expected to raise their unchanged current export level of around €360/mt FOB next week.
In general, the rebar offers of southern European producers are at €360-380/mt FOB, though this level shows variation depending on the producers.
A similar picture has this week been seen in eastern and western Europe compared to that observed in southern Europe: due to the uptrend in raw material and semi-finished steel prices, rebar producers in the regions in question have this week increased their price levels.
On the Turkish side, producers have continued their scrap purchase activity this week. While the Turkish producers have this week bought scrap generally at the levels of $320-329/mt CFR, their rebar export offers are still at $500-510/mt FOB. On the other hand, after the uptrend seen in the UAE market last week, another increase is expected to be seen in Egypt.
In the meantime, some slight slackening has been observed in billet prices in the last couple of days, with ex-CIS offers on average in the range of $435-445/mt FOB.
In conclusion, it generally seems that the recent uptrend in raw material prices has not yet been fully reflected on the finished steel demand side. In the upcoming days, we will see more clearly what further impact the increased raw material prices will have on Europe's rebar markets.