Following a rather long period of a relative stability, North African longs producers have started increasing their export offers gradually. The main reason is the improved demand, mainly coming from Europe, but also especially the higher activity seen in inquiries from the United States. Although the market situation is shaky due to the unpredictability of the Trump administration, North African suppliers plan to take advantage of the temporarily higher ex-US demand. “While local prices are on the rise in the US and people are kind of panicking, Egypt and Algeria are the first ones to order [imports] from since there is no additional tax [on top of Section232 related 25 percent], at least not yet,” a market source told SteelOrbis.
This week, Egyptian rebar and wire rod export prices have increased by around $10/mt to $560-565/mt FOB for rebar and $570-575/mt FOB for wire rod. The availability is mainly for end of April and May production. In the domestic market, Ezz Steel’s longs offers have remained at $665/mt (EGP 38,300/mt) ex-works, while other suppliers are at somewhat lower levels.
In Algeria, one of the suppliers, according to sources, is offering at $565/mt FOB for both rebar and wire rod for end of April and May production, up by around $5/mt over the past week. Another local producer has been in the market with $535-540/mt FOB for wire rod and $550-555/mt FOB for rebar, but for April production, buyers reported. The domestic rebar and wire rod prices in Algeria are currently standing mainly at $755/mt (DZD 110,000/mt) and $745/mt (DZD 108,500/mt) ex-works, respectively.
According to sources, in the US ex-North African rebar is on offer at $550-560/mt FOB on theoretical weight basis with a 3-3.5 percent tolerance. On delivered basis, the material price is estimated at $745-755/mt CFR US Gulf. “There are orders, but I don’t think large volumes will be sold since the situation can change any day. Also, we have to consider our other important customers aside from the US in terms of fair pricing and regular volumes,” an Egyptian mill told SteelOrbis. Recently, additional demand has been coming from Libya, Africa, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, while the quota in the EU, for Egypt particularly, was exhausted a while back.