According to the latest report issued by IREPAS, the global association for longs exporters and producers, the global longs steel market is still under a lot of pressure coming from China, whose exports are increasing. Additionally, US President Trump’s tariffs are causing widespread uncertainty and volatility in the international markets.
In the United States, the longs market has entered a waiting period both in terms of new infrastructure projects and government spending, as decisions from the White House are awaited. Moreover, labor shortages in the construction sector, which are a near certainty now, are causing delays in the construction industry. Domestic rebar producers are unwilling to increase their prices, while their main competition is against each other.
Meanwhile, China remains a factor of uncertainty for longs markets all over the world, as it is not quite clear if their exports will continue to increase or slow down.
Europe is still stuck in a situation where poor demand is paired with high energy costs. In Germany, for instance, gas and electricity are at the highest levels since 2022. Some European long steel producers, such as Feralpi and Riva, have had to shut down operations for a period due to their high production costs. As for imports, the EU quota for “other countries” was exhausted at the very start of the year, which means imports from “other countries” to Europe are finished for this year. New price increases from mills in Germany and Italy have not been accepted yet, but, according to IREPAS, they soon will be. Another factor that needs to be taken into consideration is the current euro-dollar exchange rate, which is keeping prices low.
Generally speaking, countries all over the world are becoming more and more protectionist. This attitude slows down longs exports and forces mills to cut their capacity utilization rates. To conclude, currently the global long steel market is going through a phase of instability, which makes predictions for the next quarter very difficult.