Demand was stable and order books in good shape, producer sources said.
Fastmarkets price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar) domestic, exw Italy was €660-675 ($709-725) per tonne on Wednesday, level for a second consecutive week.
Producers had successfully targeted higher prices in May and buyers accepted the price increases due to improved demand and high input costs. This led prices on a general uptrend during May and into early June from €635-645 per tonne on May 1.
Prices have remained stable since rising to the current level at the beginning of June.
But producers could start to target higher prices in the coming weeks ahead of summer production stoppages, sources said.
“The rebar market is not so bad this week. Producers are trying to consolidate current levels, and probably they will announce a new increase to avoid an inversion of direction in price trend,” a buyer source said.
“I would say prices are the same as last week but a new price increase is foreseen for this week, as producers have orders still to deliver in the month and the feeling is that May results will be very negative from an economic point of view for all producers due to input costs,” a producer source said.
Domestic scrap prices in Italy did not decrease as expected in June, pressuring producer profit margins, the same producer source added.
International scrap prices remained largely stable week on week.
Fastmarkets’ calculation of its daily index for steel scrap HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix) North Europe origin, cfr Turkey was $380.31 per tonne on Wednesday, up from $376.42 per tonne a week earlier.
Fastmarkets’ price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, delivered, Spain was €645-650 per tonne on Wednesday, narrowing down by €20 per tonne from €645-670 per tonne the previous week.
The Spanish rebar market was reported to be slow with sales becoming scarcer.
Producers were starting to prepare for summer stoppages from the end of July to mid-August, sources said.
Meanwhile rebar exports from Spain were reported at €575-580 per tonne FOB.
Southern European wire rod
Market conditions and prices remained unchanged in the Southern European wire rod market in the week to June 19.
Fastmarkets’ price assessment for steel wire rod (mesh quality), domestic, delivered Southern Europe was €625-640 per tonne on Wednesday stable week on week.
Market sources in Italy and Spain also pointed to summer stoppages as a trigger for wire rod producers to likely attempt price rises in the coming weeks.
IREPAS Outlook
The International Rebar Producers and Exporters Association (IREPAS) reported ongoing weak demand and pessimism in the global steel longs market in its short-range outlook, published on June 7.
“Demand in the global long steel products market continues to lag behind supply and the bottom of the market may not have been seen yet. The steel volumes being produced and being consumed are not growing. On the contrary, they are down in most regions,” the outlook reported.
Activity remained weak especially in Europe with a lack of investment resulting in a fall in construction and infrastructure projects being initiated.
Published by: India-Inés Levy
