Contrary to the price uptrend in Turkey, price levels in Europe have in the last week remained unchanged in some regions while they have softened in other regions.
Rebar export offers given from southern Europe have been at €320/mt FOB in the last week. Base rebar prices in Italy have softened to levels of €90-100/mt ex-works. No increase has been seen in Spanish producers' prices in the last week either, with deals continuing to be concluded at the previous week's price levels. The price gap between list prices and deal prices also continued to be observed in the last week in Greece. Lack of demand still exists in the local and export markets of the abovementioned southern European countries. Market players are wondering how the southern European producers will respond to the uptrend (initiated by the Turkish producers on the back of rising global prices of raw materials and semi-finished products) in the export markets where a lack of demand is currently observed.
On the eastern European side, producers in Romania and Bulgaria have decreased their prices in the last week, with stockists accordingly revising their prices. It is heard that stockists experiencing cash problems have continued to offer at low price levels. The low demand level has continued to be the main reason behind the price decrease trend.
In general, the rebar price uptrend seen in Turkey last week has not been reflected in Europe. The most important factor, i.e. demand, is still silent in Europe. European producers have been wondering how long the Turkish rebar producers' prices will continue to increase. In the coming days we will see how this increase will affect the European producers' export offers.