Amid the strong ongoing pressure from unfavorable conditions in the local Romanian longs market, the sole domestic longs producer has dropped its prices and local traders have had no other choice but to follow suit. Some market players evaluate the mill’s decision as damaging to domestic market pricing. However, the situation in the longs market in the EU and Romania has not been healthy for weeks now, given the falling scrap prices, competitive ex-Asia offers, and the weakness in the Turkish market.
As a result, the Romanian domestic rebar price range has declined by around €20-30/mt week on week to €630/mt ex-works. Likewise, domestic retail offers have decreased to €630-650/mt ex-warehouse, from €10-20/mt ex-warehouse a week earlier.
“They [sole producer] are not selling large quantities, but they are selling prices rather than material [to attract buyers], which has a significant impact on the market, but they do not appear to understand this,” a large trader said to SteelOrbis.
On the other hand, wire rod prices have dropped by €15-20/mt week on week to €640-650/mt ex-warehouse. According to sources, some wire rod retailers are attempting to maintain their higher pricing of around €670/mt ex-warehouse, which is not feasible in the present market conditions.
Furthermore, there have been some import offers this week, but they are still quite high for Romanian traders and with the weak business activities in the local market there is currently no interest in imports. However, according to one source, Egypt offered wire rod at €600/mt delivered to Constanta port, which is quite acceptable in these circumstances.
Meanwhile, Greece has offered rebar and wire rod at €660-665/mt CFR and €675-680/mt CFR, down from previous offers of €690-700/mt CFR and €720-730/mt CFR, respectively, and Italy has offered rebar at €660-670/mt CFR.