The European steel mesh-quality wire rod market has been quiet this week ahead of new steel scrap settlements, with prices diverging from region to region, sources told Fastmarkets.
Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for
steel wire rod (mesh-quality), domestic, delivered Southern Europe was ?,?420-440 ($475-497) per tonne on Wednesday June 10, stable over the week.
Italy
The "workable" price for wire rod in Italy is said to be ?,?420 per tonne delivered this week, narrowing down by ?,?10 per tonne over the past seven days.
Demand remained very quiet this week with traded volumes remaining limited, sources said.
"There is a hunger for orders all around," one trader in Italy said.
Market participants have said that oversupply still persists in the market while buyers' level of stock is said to be high also.
Nevertheless, some Italian producers are reportedly targeting an increase in wire rod prices by some ?,?10 per tonne on bullish sentiment in scrap, however, customers are unlikely to accept it, sources said.
Concurrently, one major local producer adopted a 'wait-and-see' mode and withdrew offers, awaiting a...