Producers in southern Europe, particularly in Italy, continue to push for price increases in the longs segment, despite lack of concrete signs of upward movement in market prices. After weeks of stagnant quotations and a market characterized by a persistently higher supply than demand, the recent increase in raw material costs, combined with stricter import restrictions in Europe and a slight recovery in continental demand, is driving several steel mills to attempt new price hikes.
In the domestic rebar segment in Italy, producers have relaunched offers up to €340/mt ex-works base (€605/mt ex-works including regular extras): “The goal is to finalize orders taken in previous weeks,” commented a local source. However, the price of concluded orders remains around €300/mt ex-works bae (€565/mt ex-works including regular extras). According to several sources, real changes may not be seen until May.
There are also few concrete changes in the wire rod segment, although, according to some sources, demand appears to have recovered, and a price increase announced by ArcelorMittal in Europe will likely trigger a series of further hike attempts. “The reasons behind this increase result from several factors: stricter EU quotas, shortage of scrap, slightly increasing demand, and the absence of Ukrainian and Moldovan steel mills,” commented another Italian source.
In the export segment, ex-Greece offers have decreased by about €10/mt compared to two weeks ago. Ex-Greece rebar has been reported at €600/mt FOB, while wire rod at €590/mt FOB. From Italy, meanwhile, export offers for rebar have been reported almost stable at €595/mt FOB.
Regarding imports, ex-Turkey offers have been reported at €560-570/mt CFR southern Europe for rebar and about €565-575/mt CFR for wire rod, up by approximately €5/mt compared to last week. Ex-Egypt offers for both rebar and wire rod have been reported stable at €550-560/mt CFR, while Algerian offers are around €560-570/mt CFR. Finally, wire rod offers from Indonesia have been reported at approximately €510-520/mt CFR.