Europe longs: Prices rise on higher costs

European long steel product prices have risen in the past week, reflecting growing production costs and reduced output.

Argus' weekly Italian rebar assessment rose by €10/t to €580/t ex-works, while the drawing-quality wire rod market was static at €610/t delivered.

Sale prices for Italian rebar in the domestic market have climbed from €570-580/t ex-works to €590/t ex-works, including extras for sizes. Some producers had only limited allocations for 2023 deliveries, with maintenance expected to be extended by one or two weeks. In the day-ahead market, the Italian spot index (Pun) rose to €143.70/MWh this week. Scrap prices in the international market continued to rise too, supporting EU values. Italian drawing-quality wire rod was available at €610-630/t delivered, propped up by tight quota allocations.

Offers for Italian rebar to nearby countries were reported at around €570/t fca, but sales were limited and mainly for urgent needs, with negotiations for larger tonnages expected to start in December.

In Germany, local producers quoted rebar at €610-640/t delivered depending on the tonnage, but there was little interest, with fabricators pricing cut and bent rebar at the same levels. But as fabricators' stocks were replenished at around €580/t delivered, they had no profits selling at these levels, a regional trader said. Rebar in coils from German mills was pricing €30-40/t higher. Construction is expected to gear up in some EU countries next year because of new infrastructure projects, but at the moment there is little activity, a market participant said.

In Bulgaria, one local producer lifted rebar offers to 1,240-1,250 lev/t (€634-639/t) delivered to local customers and €610-630/t delivered Romania late last week, with limited availability reported.

In the Baltic countries, rebar from Poland was available at €620-630/t delivered, with Uzbek rebar offered at €610/t delivered a few days ago.

In Spain, €30/t increases were announced, with local offers for wire rod indicated at €645-660/t delivered, although latest workable levels were reported at €615-625/t delivered, depending on the grade.

Negotiations continued across Europe for long products from Turkey, Egypt and Algeria, with bookings from Turkey and Egypt reported in previous weeks. Egyptian suppliers received orders in the range of $570-580/t fob for January-February shipment to Europe and other markets, and were targeting sales at $580-590/t fob this week, with the higher end of the range quoted for drawing-quality wire rod. Turkish rebar was still available at $585-590/t fob and wire rod was priced $10/t higher, after small tonnages of rebar for December shipment were booked last week at the lower end of the range for the Balkan region.