Long prices in Bulgaria mostly increase amid better demand

Bulgarian domestic longs prices have mainly risen in line with the positive sentiment in the scrap segment and relatively better demand compared to last month. According to sources, the stock levels of end-users are low to medium.

As a result, over the past two weeks, rebar, wire rod, and merchant bar prices have risen by BGN 20-40/mt (€10-21/mt) depending on the product. Overall, since the middle of April the offers have surged by BGN 270/mt (€138/mt) for rebar, by BGN 270-320/mt (€138-164/mt) for wire rod and by BGN 180-220/mt (€92-113/mt) for merchant bars, SteelOrbis has learned. In the beams segment, local prices in Bulgaria have decreased by BGN 50/mt (€25/mt) over the past two weeks, showing an opposite trend compared to the other longs products. The reason is that beam offers had overall risen by BGN 250-300/mt (€128-153/mt) since mid-April and were considered overpriced by buyers, while demand has been weaker than for rebar and wire rod, SteelOrbis understands.

In the import segment, ex-Turkey rebar and wire rod export prices have been at $780/mt FOB and $840/mt FOB respectively for shipment at the beginning of August. Merchant bar offers were reported at around $830-845/mt FOB last week, with the average freight for regular lots estimated at a minimum of $15/mt. Although the levels are more or less workable, buyers are not in a rush, taking into account the unclear issue regarding the quotas in the EU for the new period, while the quota volumes for the previous period have nearly been exhausted.

Local prices for long products in Bulgaria, BGN/mt (€/mt) CPT

€1 = BGN 1.956.