Southern Europe's rebar exports are still feeling the negative effect of the recent holiday in North Africa and the Middle East. The Algerian market, which is a major target market for southern European countries such as Spain, Italy and Portugal, has remained silent. Rebar offers from these three countries to the North African markets are standing at €455-465/mt ($582-595/mt) FOB for shipments in December. Rebar export offers to the Middle East and North Africa from Southern European steel mills, which have been trending sideways for almost two weeks, may be revised upward in the coming days in line with increases in the scrap market, though any prospective price increases by the mills will likely fail to gain acceptance from buyers as it is already hard to find buyers at current offer levels.
On the other hand, even though producers in southern Europe are offering mesh quality wire rod to the export markets at the price level of €490-500/mt ($627-640/mt) FOB, last week the latest export deals were concluded at €470-480/mt ($602-614/mt) FOB. However, market sources tell SteelOrbis that, if the European mills manage to find buyers, they are ready to decrease their prices to the levels of €470-480/mt FOB.
€1 = $1.28