With year-end closures approaching, southern European rebar and wire rod producers are looking to consolidate their requested price increases. Import prices are rising from Turkey and Egypt, while Algeria is now out of the export market.
Local rebar offers in Italy are consolidating at the high end of the range set by producers at €330-350/mt ex-works base (€595-615/mt ex-works including regular extras), which is a price that is beginning to be increasingly accepted by buyers.
The market is currently experiencing something of a paradox, in that, on the one hand, demand is not particularly high, but, on the other, scrap prices and production costs are rising. Some southern European suppliers prefer a cautious approach and have decided to slow down sales for fear of speculative cost increases.
As for the export segment, ex-Italy rebar offers have been reported stable week on week at around €590/mt FOB, but a source at an Italian producer said they are aiming to reach €610/mt FOB. Ex-Greece prices are also rising: offers have been stated at €630/mt FOB for rebar, up from the range of €600-620/mt FOB last week. Ex-Spain rebar has been reported stable at around €600/mt FCA/FOB and there have been reports of offers at €640/mt CFR Baltic countries, while an ex-Poland offer has been heard at €640-645/mt CPT Baltic countries and ex-Uzbekistan offers have been reported at €625/mt delivered for Baltic countries.
Import prices from Turkey and Egypt have been on the rise, while in Algeria one steel mill had a problem with its DRI module and this limited the allocation of long products for the domestic market. As a result, there have been no offers from this country, as Algerian mills appear to be focusing on local buyers.
Ex-Turkey rebar offers have been reported at €600/mt CFR southern Europe and wire rod offers at €610/mt CFR, compared respectively with the levels of €560-580/mt CFR and €570-580/mt CFR last week. Ex-Egypt offers, moreover, had been reported at around €580/mt CFR until last week, but they are now appearing at even €600/mt CFR.