It’s shaping up to be another problematic month for the southern European long products market: prices are falling, negotiations are scarce and orders even more so; in Italy, bad weather is slowing down constructions and warehouses remain full.
In the local Italian market, rebar has returned to the €400-410/mt ex-works base (€665-675/mt ex-works including regular extras), down €60-70/mt from the range of two weeks ago. SAE1006 wire rod, said an Italian producer, can still be sold even up to a maximum of €680/mt, while mesh quality at €650/mt.
On the export side, ex-Italy offers by truck appear to be around €570-580/mt ex-works or €640/mt delivered for rebar and around €575-590/mt ex-works for wire rod. Ex-Italy prices by sea, on the other hand, seem to correspond to a wider range: indeed, some sources spoke of €570-590/mt FOB for rebar, but another source said they heard offers up to €600/mt FOB. The workable price range, according to a source, should be the lower.
Ex-Greece offers, said a Greek producer, are dropping: €590-610/mt FOB for rebar and €600-625/mt FOB for wire rod, down from the respective €635/mt FOB and €655/mt FOB two weeks ago.
In the import segment, Egypt is offering $585/mt FOB (about €515/mt CFR Southern Europe) for wire rod and about $575/mt FOB (€505/mt CFR) for rebar, while offers from Turkey have stood at $660/mt FOB (€590/mt CFR) for wire rod and $650/mt FOB (€585/mt CFR) for rebar.