Southern Europe’s longs market remains largely stable in terms of supply and demand. Producers are holding firm on the prices proposed for the past couple of weeks and, in some cases, are attempting further increases, which have been slow to materialize.
In Italy, domestic rebar has been offered at €360/mt ex-works base (€625/mt ex-works including regular extras), up €20/mt from last week. These increases continue to be driven by high production costs, due to both scrap and energy prices. However, sources note that this level is still difficult to achieve. "We are all waiting to see how to proceed in February," commented an Italian source, adding, "I believe anything above €340/mt will be difficult, but we hope prices won’t fall back."
In the local Italian wire rod market, offers for drawing-quality wire rod have been reported at approximately €620-630/mt delivered, while mesh-quality wire rod stands at around €595-610/mt delivered, confirming the upward trend observed since December.
In the export market, Greece has followed the wave of price increases initiated by ArcelorMittal last week in the European longs market. Greek offers have reached €610/mt FOB for rebar and €600/mt FOB for wire rod, compared to €585-590/mt FOB and €580/mt FOB, respectively, in the previous week.
Additionally, Italian export offers have been reported for western Europe and Germany at €615-635/mt delivered for drawing-quality wire rod and €590-605/mt delivered for mesh-quality wire rod. For eastern Europe, ex-Italy offers have been reported at €630-640/mt delivered for drawing-quality wire rod and €605-630/mt delivered for mesh-quality wire rod.
Finally, in the import segment, ex-Turkey rebar offers have been reported stable at €560-570/mt CFR southern Europe, with some lower levels also reported at around €540-550/mt CFR. Ex-Turkey wire rod offers have been reported at €560-570/mt CFR, down approximately €10/mt from last week. Moreover, ex-Egypt offers have been reported mostly stable at €565-570/mt CFR for rebar and at €575-580/mt CFR for wire rod.