Algeria’s export prices for rebar and wire rod have indicated a decrease over the past week, partly as other suppliers in the North Africa region are placing more competitive offers.
Tosyali Algerie, Algeria’s sole longs exporter, decided to decrease its offers for September shipment during the week, reducing its rebar price by $15/mt to $500/mt FOB and its wire rod price by $10/mt to $525/mt FOB. The producer marketed around 20,000 mt of rebar to the US in the second half of July at $650/mt CFR on theoretical weight basis (including financing), duty paid. According to the market players, the base prices come to around $495-500/mt FOB.
Algeria continues targeting active exports, partly being under pressure from low domestic demand amid the political unrest in the country. One of the key local suppliers is offering rebar at DZD 67,000/mt ex-works and wire rod at DZD 80,000/mt ex-works. These levels come to $514/mt ex-works and $563/mt ex-works, excluding nine percent and 19 percent VAT, respectively. “There was a big drop [in prices] few weeks back, which resulted in massive import order cancellations,” a trader told SteelOrbis.
According to the estimations, foreign sellers lost at least 50,000 mt - mostly rebar - in rejected lots. Most recent rebar prices from Italy to Algeria were heard at €445-450/mt FOB or $500-505/mt FOB according to the current exchange rate. Libya’s latest rebar price is $475/mt FOB (end-August shipment); however, it is not considered workable amid high freight costs and generally business being risky, SteelOrbis understands.
$1 = DZD 119.5
€1 = $1.12