Over the past week, despite the ongoing slower demand and liquidity problems, the sole Romanian rebar producer and local long steel traders have continued to keep offers unchanged. Even if the market is under pressure and the current poor sentiment is mainly due to demand, most traders are not very interested in reducing offers. Meanwhile, a few traders who had attempted higher levels in the previous week have failed to attract buyers.
“Prices remain stable, although demand is somewhat lower this week and is slowing down each week. Also, there are some liquidity concerns. Certain payments are flowing more slowly, but it is not a very major issue, I believe this is due to week-on-week fluctuations,” a trader told SteelOrbis
Currently, the sole producer's rebar prices are stable week on week at €580-590/mt ex-works, with Romanian rebar traders’ prices also stable week on week, at around €590-605/mt ex-warehouse.
Similarly, while the outlook for the wire rod segment remains depressing, traders are offering unchanged prices week on week at €570-585/mt ex-warehouse.
In the import market, there has been no news of deals, and the majority of offers have remained stable. According to sources, Greece's offers for rebar and wire rod are unchanged at €630-635/mt CFR and €620-625/mt CFR, respectively. A similar stability has been observed in Egypt’s offers, with offers for rebar and wire rod remaining at around €565-570/mt CFR and €575-580/mt CFR, respectively. In addition, the Bulgarian supplier has also chosen to keep its rebar offers stable at €620-630/mt CPT. Turkish rebar offers, on the other hand, have risen since last week, and based on mill prices of $565-570/mt FOB and freight costs of $25-30/mt, Turkish pricing to Romania should be about €575-585/mt CFR at the current exchange rate of €1 = $1.04.