Demand seems not to have improved yet in the southern European longs market where producers are struggling and have decided in several cases to attempt increases partly because of rising production and transportation costs. In the meantime, the import longs segment in Europe seems to be rather lively and there is interest particularly in Turkish longs since the quota for this origin is not yet used up for the fourth quarter.
In Italy, local rebar has been offered at around €320-330/mt ex-works base (€585-595/mt ex-works including regular extras, up €40/mt from the last offers). However, customers are refusing to pay this price range and continue to propose counteroffers at around €290-300/mt ex-works base (€555-565/mt ex-works).
In the local wire rod segment in Italy, producers are also starting to propose €20/mt increases over the offers seen a couple of weeks ago, setting the price at around €590/mt delivered.
As for exports, ex-Italy offers have been reported for rebar at €560-570/mt ex-works and wire rod at €590-610/mt delivered in Europe. Ex-Greece offers for both rebar and wire rod have been reported at €590/mt FOB, but only with a few contracts seen. Ex-Spain tradable offers have been heard at €560-570/mt FOB, which are lower than the last range reported at €580/mt FOB, probably due to lack of demand.
The import segment has been very active, with Turkey offering at around €565/mt CFR southern Europe for wire rod and €550/mt CFR for rebar. Ex-Algeria offers for December-January readiness have been reported at around €540-550/mt CFR for rebar and wire rod, while ex-Egypt rebar and wire rod have been offered at around €550-560/mt CFR.
There have been also offers from the Asian continent, such as ex-Indonesia and ex-Vietnam offers for wire rod at about €550-560/mt CFR and €560-570/mt CFR, respectively, depending on the volume.