In the longs market of southern Europe, particularly in Italy, tradable prices have been reported at stable levels, reflecting a similar situation to last week, both nationally and internationally. The prospects for a change before the summer holidays are minimal, with Italian producers continuing to face weak demand and high production costs largely due to rising energy prices.
Italian producers are, in fact, struggling in particular with high production costs, which have increased despite the decline in scrap prices. The low demand, although consistently present at a minimum level, does not allow producers to increase prices, while rising energy prices prevent significant price reductions. Thus, tradable prices have been reported stable at €330-€360/mt ex-works base for rebar (€595-625/mt ex-works including regular extras), €645-€655/mt delivered for drawing wire rod, and €625-€635/mt delivered for mesh quality wire rod. Sources have confirmed the already declared production slowdowns and extended summer shutdowns.
Prices in the export segment are stable as well, with ex-Italy rebar offers still at €560-€570/mt ex-works or €600-€610/mt delivered and ex-Greece offers at €620-€630/mt FOB for rebar and €610-€620/mt FOB for wire rod.
Regarding imports, ex-Turkey prices have shown a slight increase: offers for rebar have been reported at around €565-€570/mt CFR southern Europe, compared to last week’s €560-€565/mt CFR, and Turkish wire rod offers are at €570-€575/mt CFR, against last week’s €565-€570/mt CFR. Ex-Algeria offers are down slightly to $555-565/mt CFR for rebar and wire rod, compared to $565/mt CFR reported last week. Meanwhile, ex-Egypt rebar offers have been reported stable at $560-565/mt CFR, while Egyptian wire rod offers have decreased by $5/mt and are now at $565-575/mt CFR.