Rebar demand in the international markets is still observed to be at very low levels. On the other hand, production costs are being pushed up by scrap quotations, which are being driven up by high domestic demand in the US and Europe - the main scrap suppliers in the global market - and also by ongoing strong demand for scrap from the main importers such as Turkey and the Far East region. Targeting higher price levels, scrap suppliers in the global market are currently not sharing offers, and so steel mills are finding it difficult to locate scrap offers at present.
Despite higher scrap quotations, Greek rebar producers have been forced to reduce their rebar export offers to €505-510/mt ($571-576/mt) FOB as a result of the weak international demand for rebar and the downward pressure exerted by buyers, but they have also failed to conclude sales in this price range. However, Greek rebar mills report that they have no choice but to maintain a wait-and-see stance amid their higher production costs and add that they are unable to understand the ongoing uptrend of scrap quotations given such weak finished steel demand. Greek mills believe that the only way out of this situation is a fall in scrap quotations as a result of an increase in supply due to seasonal factors or a production cut by mills.
€1 = $1.13