Even though the local market is still under pressure from adverse market circumstances, Romania’s sole rebar producer and local traders have chosen to keep prices stable week on week. According to market participants, the reason for the stable trend is that, while market prices decreased due to the lower import prices of Turkish and Egyptian long steel products, end-users have failed to show sufficient interest and business activity has continued to be sluggish.
As a result, offers from the local rebar producer in Romania has remained stable week on week at €600-605/mt ex-work. Likewise, retail rebar prices remain unchanged week on week at €570-585/mt ex-warehouse.
On the other hand, given the continued pessimistic outlook, the majority of traders in the wire rod category have chosen to hold prices at €570-590/mt ex-warehouse.
Meanwhile, in the import segment, Bulgaria and Moldova have chosen not to submit offers to Romania as a result of cheaper imported goods flooding the market, with little interest from Romanian traders. In addition, according to sources, the mill has been sold out at higher prices to other destinations, and volumes from Bulgaria to Romania are projected to be minimal until the end of the year.
In contrast, Egypt’s suppliers have kept their wire rod offers to Romania the same as last week at €565-575/mt CFR, while lowering rebar prices by €10/mt to €565-575/mt CFR. While no firm offers from Turkey have been received, based on mills’ pricing of $575-585/mt FOB and freight rates of $25-30/mt, the levels should be at about €555-570/mt CFR at the current €1 = $1.09 exchange rate.
