According to the latest reports, the longs market in Italy continues to face significant challenges, with a persistent downward trend showing no signs of stopping.
In the local rebar market, the tradable price has dropped further, settling at around €300-310/mt ex-works base (€565-575/mt ex-works including regular extras), down from €310/mt ex-works base last week (€575/mt ex-works including regular extras). Some traders even report transactions at €290/mt ex-works base (€555/mt ex-works including regular extras). Despite this weak trend, mills continue to push for price increases, but the market has yet to absorb any concrete changes. Domestic demand remains sluggish, keeping overall sentiment uncertain.
On the other hand, the wire rod market appears more stable. Sales in March confirm levels of around €600/mt delivered for mesh-quality wire rod and €630/mt delivered for drawing-quality wire rod, with no significant fluctuations.
On the export side, ex-Italy rebar offers seem to be mostly stable at approximately €620/mt delivered to eastern Europe. "It remains to be seen whether mills will manage to push through their intended price increases in the coming weeks, or if weak demand will continue to prevail, keeping the market under pressure," an industry source commented.
As for imports, ex-Turkey rebar offers this week have been reported at €555-565/mt CFR southern Europe, while wire rod has been offered at €560-570/mt CFR, both increasing by approximately €5-10/mt week on week. Meanwhile, ex-Egypt offers for both rebar and wire rod have been reported stable at around €550-560/mt CFR.