Romanian long steel traders have continued to raise their retail prices, mainly due to the rebound in the scrap market. However, aside from the positive situation in raw materials, the fundamentals viewed in general have remained substantially weak and so market confidence in a strong rebound of long prices is only moderate, at least for the moment. As a result, prices have only increased slightly.
The domestic retail price for steel rebar in Romania has settled at €715-760/mt ex-warehouse, up €5/mt over the past week. Some traders are attempting to increase prices above the mentioned range, to €780-785/mt ex-warehouse, but such levels are not considered achievable. While sitting on excessive stocks, Romanian traders remain uninterested in imports, especially given the increasing trend. Over the past week, ex-Greece rebar offers have climbed by €15-25/mt to €805/mt delivered, with another offer from Ukraine at about €800/mt delivered.
As for Turkey, which is mainly offering for September shipments to Europe due to the EU quota situation, with the estimated price level at around €725-750/mt CFR based on a $1 = €1 exchange rate and roughly €25-30/mt freight.
In the wire rod segment, the local retail prices in Romania are presently at €745-785/mt ex-warehouse, versus €730-785/mt ex-warehouse last week. On the other hand, some traders are attempting to sell at around €820-825/mt ex-warehouse this week, which is not workable in the current market situation. In the import market, Greece offered wire rod at €845/mt delivered, up from €800–810/mt delivered the previous week.