The longs market in southern Europe has not experienced any major shocks this week, according to the latest SteelOrbis findings. The situation remains unchanged almost everywhere, with steady demand but which is insufficient to make buyers accept finished steel price increases.
In Italy, the local rebar market did not welcome the requested increases of €30-40/mt, bringing prices back to their previous levels of €320-330/mt ex-works base (€585-595/mt ex-works including regular extras). “The market is still calm,” a local trader commented, adding, “Producers are looking for increases that they are unable to materialize.”
A local producer agreed with this view, despite stating that sales have been proceeding at a regular pace during this period. However, because production costs such as scrap and electricity have increased lately (rising by about €5-15/mt and €12/Mwh respectively), they would like to attempt an increase of at least €20/mt for sales in March. As for wire rod, their price idea is around €630/mt for drawing quality and around €600/mt for mesh quality. The fact that there is pressure for price increases, however, does not necessarily mean that they will occur.
The source, in fact, believes that “the market will have a cold reaction, but all steel mills are subject to these price changes right now [...]. Since Turkey's export quota is almost full, basically as well as all the others, I am confident that the new price level can be digested.” Moreover, export prices from Turkey are almost on a par with local prices at the moment, making it convenient for buyers to remain local, amid lower logistic risks.
As for Greece, export prices have increased slightly, standing at about €620/mt FOB for rebar and about €610/mt FOB for wire rod, up from last week's reports of €610/mt and €600/mt FOB, respectively.
The export price of rebar from Spain to the UK has remained unchanged from last week's levels, standing at around €600-610 €/mt FOB.
On the import side, rebar’s offers from Turkey have been reported in the range of €570-580/mt CFR and wire rod at €575-585/mt CFR. In North Africa, offers from Algeria have been reported in the range of about €565-580/mt CFR for rebar and €555-580/mt CFR for wire rod. Finally, offers from Egypt have come at €560-565/mt CFR for rebar and €565-570/mt CFR for wire rod. All prices are calculated based on the exchange rate of $1 = €0.96 (February 20).