With demand for imports of raw materials, semis and finished steel products decreasing in the Far East in recent weeks, finished steel product prices mentioned by the markets worldwide that export to this region have stopped increasing and have even decreased in some cases.
While the Middle East is still silent due to Ramadan, Europe, which has just returned from its holidays, has immediately reflected the increased prices of raw materials in its rebar prices.
Prices in the local Turkish rebar market have this week maintained their downtrend. While prices were previously at $510/mt ex-works including 18 percent VAT, prices have this week declined to $477/mt with the same terms. Meanwhile, Turkish producers' export offers for rebars have been in the range of $485-510/mt this week.
On the other hand, rebar prices have registered an increase in Egypt. Egyptian importers have this week sought rebar from Turkish producers as the local rebar prices in Egypt have reached $542/mt ex-works including VAT. However, while it is known that there are now large tonnages of Turkish rebars in the Egyptian market, they are being sold in smaller volumes compared to Egyptian rebars.
Producers in Europe are still trying to increase their prices. Having raised their rebar prices after the holidays in line with increased raw material prices, European rebar producers say that they are currently observing a rise in demand and they think that the increasing rebar prices will be accepted in time.
In southern Europe, Greece has attracted attention by increasing its rebar prices by €40 last week and by €30/mt this week. Thus, rebar prices in this country appear to have increased to current levels of €430-450/mt delivered to customer. However, for now, sales at these levels seem unlikely, while at the same time it is possible to hear a variety of price levels depending on customer and tonnage. With rebar producers in Italy having increased their prices in line with the high levels of scrap prices, the base rebar price in this local market has reached the level of €150/mt ex-works.
Meanwhile, Spanish producers did not wait for the holidays to end in order to increase their prices, and, now that the holidays are over, the situation in Spain is unchanged for the time being. On the export side, rebar offers given from the abovementioned southern Europe countries, Italy, Greece and Spain, are currently at about €370-380/mt FOB. The uptrend in global raw material prices is the main factor behind all these increases.
In conclusion, market players are now wondering if the abovementioned price increases (based on higher raw material costs) will be met with acceptance on the demand side, in particular by end-users, as has been predicted.