The southern European longs market continues to wait for a price trend reversal, especially in Italy, where producers' attempts to increase their offers have not yet been fully accepted by buyers. In the meantime, the producers’ side is worried regarding the uptrend in the scrap segment and the possible elimination of energy tax credits.
In this situation, Italian producers are aiming to get up to €460/mt ex-works base for rebar (€725/mt ex-works including regular extras), but buyers are not yet willing to pay that. According to some sources, the workable price is stable at €400-410/mt ex-works base (€665-675/mt ex-works including regular extras), but some sources report rare customers are already accepting a €20-30/mt increase, moving the upper end of the range up to €430-440/mt ex-works base (€695-705/mt ex-works).
If the demand does not pick up, the producers, therefore, have the choice of either selling at a partial loss or raising prices and, consequently, halting production, in the absence of sufficient sales. "They [mills] are more or less all selling what they are producing, but they have only covered March. There were no sales for April," said an Italian trader. "Everyone is afraid of the scrap increases and the elimination of the energy tax credit. They are talking about a possible increase of 40-50 euros."
Local wire rod prices, on the other hand, remain stable at €680-690/mt DAP northern Italy.
In the export market, it has also been a week of waiting, with low demand. Italian producers are still offering at €670/mt FOB for rebar, but several producers are not quoting now. "We are waiting to see how the market moves and we are not yet offering for April," said one Italian producer.
According to sources, export offers from Greece have been at €690-700/mt FOB for rebar and €700-720/mt FOB for wire rod. Demand is not absent, but, if the market does not follow these prices, according to a Greek producer, production will have to be stopped in April.
A few import offers were reported in the week: Egypt is offering at around $690-700/mt FOB for wire rod, down $20-30/mt from last week. The current range thus corresponds to €675-685/mt CFR southern Europe, which is almost in line with domestic offers.
Turkey is offering at $740-760/mt FOB (€717-735/mt CFR) for rebar, down from $750-760/mt FOB (about €725-740/mt CFR) last week. Turkish wire rod offers, on the other hand, have been standing at $750-760/mt FOB (€726-735/mt CFR) versus $760-770/mt FOB (about €735-750/mt CFR) last week.