Although this week, much like last week, has been relatively quiet in terms of activity, partly due to various holidays including Labor Day (May 1) and Orthodox Easter (May 5, particularly in Greece), some sources are starting to talk about attempts at price hikes.
In the local rebar market in Italy, producers seem very determined and are once again aiming for €330-340/mt ex-works base (€595-605/mt ex-works including regular extras). "Customers are reluctant to accept these prices," commented an Italian source, adding, "but this time I believe they will have to give in and accept purchases at higher prices than in previous orders." We will have to wait until next week to assess the market’s response.
In the local wire rod segment, offers have been reported in Italy at €630-640/mt CPT for mesh quality and €650-660/mt CPT for drawing quality. In Spain, however, lower offers have been reported at around €605-620/mt DDP for local mesh wire rod.
From Greece, offers for rebar and wire rod in the range of €590-610/mt FOB have been confirmed, but the pre-holiday market has been virtually inactive. Also, from Italy, despite the offered level for rebar exports being around €590/mt FOB, no shipping activity has been recorded.
Finally, there haven't been many import offers. Turkey is offering rebar at around €575-585/mt CFR southern Europe for May/June shipment (stable week on week). Ex-Turkey offers have also been reported for wire rod at $600-610/mt FOB (approximately €585-595/mt CFR), but quotas for the EU for the period beginning April 1 have been exhausted. Ex-Egypt rebar and wire rod offers have been reported at around €570-585/mt CFR.