Competition in the wire rod market in the Mediterranean region has remained tense and, although Asia is not so aggressive lately, having sold some volumes to Europe previously, the main players nowadays are North Africa, Turkey and Russia. Despite the relatively strong scrap prices, rebar and wire rod pricing has not been sustainable since the suppliers have to compete over a buyer with some exceptions, like in Israel, where Turkey is out of the game.
In North Africa, Egypt’s wire rod is now on offer at $580-590/mt FOB depending on the mill, versus earlier deals at $570/mt FOB in the second half of June. In the rebar segment, the most recent rebar prices from Egypt have been reported at $570-580/mt FOB, although some sizeable total volumes had been exported earlier at $550-570/mt FOB, some sources report. Still, there are doubts that Egypt will succeed in raising its workable prices in the short run.
Algeria, on the other hand, was offering $575/mt FOB for wire rod and rebar last week, but recently, according to buyers, the offers are at $565-570/mt FOB, while some of the bids from the African market do not exceed $540/mt FOB.
In Turkey, the domestic official offers are at $590-620/mt ex-works, $20/mt down on the upper end of the range over the past week, while the export offers have declined by $5/mt over the same period to $590-595/mt FOB with some discounts possible. Imports have been rather challenging lately in the wire rod segment due to safeguard restrictions, while offers have been rather high. Egypt has voiced $600-605/mt CFR for August-September shipments, while Russia has indicated $575-580/mt CFR for August rolling, while there is a fear that prices may increase since Russia has temporarily abolished the export duty for material in bundles.
Russia has been rather active lately exporting longs and particularly wire rod. One reason is that Israeli demand for this origin has increased since Turkey’s government put a ban on selling steel to this destination. As a result, the most recent ex-Russia offers to Israel have been reported at $650/mt CFR for both rebar and wire rod, while Ukraine is targeting $680/mt CFR for rebar. In Egypt, which has been a market for Russia for a while, the latest Russian offers have been voiced at $570-590/mt FOB or around $615-625/mt CFR. In Lebanon, ex-Russia rebar prices have been reported at around $570/mt CFR due to competition with Turkey.