Local Bulgarian longs prices surge amid market uncertainty

The longs product market in Bulgaria has seen a significant increase in domestic prices over the past month, mainly due to economic and financial uncertainties resulting from the ongoing war in Ukraine. In this situation, Bulgaria expects its GDP to grow 2.1 percent in 2022 versus the earlier predicted 3.6 percent.

In addition, according to some sources, the billet supply from Ukraine to Bulgaria for rolling may not be sustainable, which also results in some market risks. In the meantime, while domestic demand for longs has been decent in Bulgaria, the pressure from the import side has weakened since Turkey exhausted its quota volume for the second quarter and is offering mainly for the next round of the quota. However, suppliers from European countries are still active in their offers to Bulgaria.

Over the past month, longs prices in Bulgaria have increased by BGN 160-400/mt (€82-204/mt) depending on the product group. The offers for beams and merchant bars increased by a larger extent due to relatively better demand.

In the import segment, merchant bars from Poland are offered at €1,350/mt CPT Bulgaria, while beams are at €1,520-1,550/mt CPT. Ex-Spain beam offers are at €1,450-1,500/mt CIF, SteelOrbis has learned. All the abovementioned offers are for May-June shipments. The most recent merchant bar offers from Turkey are at €930-990/mt CIF for June shipments, sources report.