The sole long steel producer and the local traders in Romania who gave significant discounts last week but without seeing any change in demand have decided to keep their prices stable week. Weak trade and other adverse impacts on both the domestic as well as in the European longs market continue to exert further downward pressure on prices.
Over the past week, the sole rebar producer in Romania has kept rebar offers stable at €570/mt ex-works. Likewise, Romanian traders have also kept their rebar prices stable week on week at about €580-600/mt ex-warehouse.
Meanwhile, according to market players, some traders are still trying to give aggressive offers at €560-570/mt ex-warehouse, with the intention of drawing more customers.
“I think that besides other negative effects the problem is certain traders who are trying to push market levels down further. If they don't have sales, they promptly drop pricing, making everything unpleasant in the market.” a trader told SteelOrbis.
On the other hand, though sentiments have continued to deteriorate in the wire rod market, traders have chosen to stick with the prices from the week before at €570-600/mt ex-warehouse.
Furthermore, there were some import offers this week, though interest from Romanian traders remained minimal. According to sources, ex-Moldova offers have declined by €15-25/mt to €575/mt CPT, while Bulgarian offers have dropped by €10/mt to €600/mt CPT. While ex-Greece offers for rebar and wire rod have been reported at €635/mt and €655/mt, respectively on CFR basis, for July shipment.