Domestic longs suppliers in Romania have maintained their prices unchanged this week, although the overall market situation and trading activity have failed to improve. For now, sellers are expected to accept lower bids in the case of a serious order. However, market players believe that the ongoing adverse market conditions in terms of longs demand in Romania and overall in Europe will leave sellers with no option but to further drop their official prices.
“Demand is fairly bad in the local market and there is an ongoing panic about prices,” a larger trader told SteelOrbis.
According to reports, this week the sole rebar producer in Romania has maintained its offers for rebar at €630/mt ex-works. Romanian traders have preferred to stick to their previous prices of about €620-640/mt ex-warehouse for rebar, while certain suppliers have made aggressive offers at €580-600/mt ex-warehouse in order to entice more buyers, sources said.
The same unfavorable atmosphere has prevailed in the wire rod market due to a lack of demand, but traders have decided to keep their offers at €610-640/mt ex-warehouse, while knowing that a further downtrend is almost inevitable.
Meanwhile, Romania’s interest in longs imports has remained minimal, which has continued to put pressure on offers from foreign suppliers. Accordingly, Moldova has decreased its rebar prices by €20-30/mt over the past week to €590-620/mt CPT, while Bulgaria has dropped its offers by €10/mt to €620/mt CPT. In addition, Italian suppliers have offered rebar at €610-620/mt CFR while Greece has cut its offers for rebar and wire rod by €15/mt and €5-25/mt to €615-640/mt and €625-655/mt, respectively, both on CFR basis.
Turkey’s average price level for rebar is at around €612-626/mt CFR based on a $1= €0.93 exchange rate and approximately €25-30/mt freight.
“We have relatively cheap prices or offers from other countries compared to what Turkey offers, and so this is not something to consider right now,” a trader told SteelOrbis.
