In Italy, steel mills are looking to confirm longs prices ahead of the various production shutdowns expected in December and January. On the one hand, there is weak demand - as is typical for this time of year - and scrap prices are continuing to drop. On the other hand, high energy costs and the year-end shutdowns could support attempts to raise longs prices.
In Italy, the tradable prices for local rebar have been reported at mostly stable levels of around €300-310/mt ex-works base (€565-575/mt ex-works including regular extras), but, according to some sources, mills aim to further increase prices to €320/mt ex-works base (€585/mt ex-works including regular extras), primarily to start the new year at a higher price level after the shutdowns.
Local wire rod prices in Italy have been reported at €620-630/mt delivered for tdrawing quality and €600/mt delivered for mesh quality, placing them at the higher end of November’s offer range. “If the market continues to show sufficient signals,” commented an Italian source, “there will be attempts for more significant increases soon, possibly up to €30/mt.”
In eastern Europe, tradable prices have also risen, according to a source, reaching €650/mt delivered for drawing quality wire rod (approximately +€20/mt compared to last month) and €600/mt delivered for mesh quality wire rod (around +€10/mt compared to last month).
Regarding export offers from Greece, sources say these have increased by about €5-10/mt: rebar has been reported at €595/mt FOB and wire rod at €590/mt FOB, compared to €590/mt FOB and €580/mt FOB respectively two weeks ago. Meanwhile, ex-Spain rebar offers have been reported at the stable level of around €570/mt FOB.
On the other hand, import offers from Turkey have decreased: rebar prices have been reported at €570-575/mt CFR southern Europe for December-January shipments (down by €5/mt on the higher end of the range compared to the previous week), while wire rod prices have been reported at €570-580/mt CFR, down €10/mt compared to last week. Moreover, ex-Algeria rebar offers have been reported at €560/mt CFR from one mill and €590/mt CFR from another mill, while Egypt is expected to start offering by mid-December. However, the main Egyptian producer is currently dealing with a malfunction in a transformer, and it is not yet clear how this will affect production.