While waiting for the various shutdowns in Italy, some steel producers are attempting to push for price increases in the hope of securing their last orders at the higher end of the tradable price range, and to start offering at higher levels in 2025 after the holidays.
In the local rebar market in Italy, according to some sources, there have been offers from producers at up to €320/mt ex-works base (€585/mt ex-works including regular extras), but, according to others, there are still orders at a maximum of €300/mt ex-works base (€565/mt ex-works including regular extras), the higher end of the price range already tradable last week.
In Italy, where energy costs are rising but demand remains barely sufficient, mills are about to begin their usual - but longer than usual - shutdowns. “They need to clear out their warehouses while waiting for some demand revival,” commented an Italian source. Some will shut down in the first week of December and reopen mid-month before closing again for the holidays, while others aim to stop later, extending into January.
In the wire rod segment, there have been requests for price increases of €10/mt from steel mills, but it may still be too early to tell whether this will be absorbed by the market, where tradable prices for November have been reported at €590/mt delivered for mesh quality and €620-630/mt delivered for drawing quality.
In the export segment, ex-Italy rebar offers have been reported stable, at around €570-580/mt FOB by sea.
On the other hand, import offers from Turkey have decreased: rebar prices have been reported at €570-580/mt CFR southern Europe, down by €5/mt on the lower end of the range compared to the previous week, for December-January shipments; wire rod prices have been reported at €580-590/mt CFR for December-January shipments, down by €10/mt compared to last week.