Romanians want prices to remain stable, but lower offers put pressure on and increase competition.
Given the approaching summer vacation period, the situation on the long products market in Romania remained calm, with weak demand last week. As the market outlook remains largely unchanged, the offerings in the rebar and wire rod segments have remained largely unchanged. However, sources report that offers at lower prices have begun to appear, especially due to the large volumes of imports planned for the third quarter, which are currently beginning to put pressure on domestic prices due to increased competition. Meanwhile, there is also a lull in the import market, with no new deals reported. Market participants expect that activity will increase in early September.
"Demand was good at the beginning of this month, but it has slowed down in the last few days. I believe that the large import volumes in the third quarter are finally starting to put pressure on prices as competition gets tougher," said a SteelOrbis trader.
. As a result, the price of rebar from the only local manufacturer remained unchanged week after week at 585-590 euros per ton at the plant. Retail prices for rebar in Romania have also not changed and amount to 580-595 euros per ton from the warehouse. However, some traders who previously imported wire rod at lower prices are now offering the material at a lower price than the current one, about 570-575 euros per ton from the warehouse.
There is a similar trend in the wire rod segment, with most traders maintaining their offers at a stable level of 500 euro580-590 tons from the warehouse.
Meanwhile, most of the offers on the import market remain stable, with no new deals reported. According to sources, the offers for fittings from Bulgaria remain unchanged compared to last week and amount to 605-615 euros per ton, excluding VAT. Similarly, the offers from Greece remain unchanged: rebar is sold at a price of 585-590 euros per ton CFR, and wire rod at a price of 580-585 euros per ton CFR. On the other hand, suppliers outside the EU also demonstrated similar price stability, both for August and September shipments. Egypt decided to keep its offers unchanged: prices for rebar are 485-490 euros per ton, and for wire rod - 500-505 euros per ton. Similarly, the rebar supply in Turkey remained stable last week at 475-490 euros per ton CFR, based on the exchange rate of 1 euro = 1.18 US dollars and estimated transportation costs of 15-20 euros per ton
Steelorbis.com