The outlook for the longs market in southern Europe in September points to a mostly stable month. There have been some attempts to raise prices, but these were mainly aimed at closing old orders at lower prices. Demand remains weak in both local and export markets.
In the Italian domestic rebar market, producers attempted to raise prices by around €10-20/mt at the beginning of the week compared to last week, pushing them up to €330/mt ex-works base (€595/mt ex-works including regular extras) to close open orders at €290-300/mt ex-works base (€555-565/mt ex-works including regular extras). "This means that these orders will be fulfilled in September, and, once they are done, we’ll see what happens," an Italian trader commented, adding, "It’s unlikely that new orders will come in at €330/mt ex-works base (€595/mt ex-works including regular extras)."
The wire rod market has also been reported stable. In Italy, prices for local drawing-quality wire rod have been reported at €640-650/mt delivered, with mesh-quality wire rod at €620-630/mt delivered. In the export markets, ex-Italy offers for drawing-quality wire rod have been reported at €650-665/mt delivered, with offers at €605-625/mt delivered for mesh-quality wire rod, with the lower end of the range for the German market and the higher end for central and eastern Europe.
There have been no changes in rebar export prices either. Ex-Greece offers have been reported stable at €620/mt FOB, while ex-Spain offers are still at €570/mt FOB. Ex-Italy offers have been reported to be stable or slightly down, currently at €600/mt delivered in Europe, and €570-580/mt FOB for rebar by sea.
Ex-Turkey import offers have been remained unchanged in US dollar terms compared to last week, but have increased on euro basis due to exchange rate fluctuations. Ex-Turkey rebar is currently offered at $555-565/mt CFR southern Europe for October shipments, and Turkish wire rod at $565-575/mt CFR for September-October shipments. Ex-Algeria wire rod offers, moreover, have been reported at €535/mt CFR.