ArcelorMittal is communicating to its sales teams and customers its intention to lift prices for all long products in Europe by €30/tonne ($33), Kallanish hears from market sources.

The new price announcement is understood to be for all long products, for new July and August orders. Longs prices in Europe have been correcting downards almost continuously since April 2022.

Steelmakers across Europe have said during recent weeks that longs prices are currently at levels considered to be unsustainable. This is also forcing suppliers, in some cases, to reduce output at their mills.

A source in the market notes that after such a long negative trend for longs prices in Europe, it is fair to expect the bottom has now been reached. He added the current price levels heard at sub €600/t in Europe for rebar cannot be justified by the current costs of raw materials and energy.

According to Kallanish price series, the current rebar price levels in Europe are at their lowest since the first quarter of 2021. Similarly, domestic scrap levels in Europe have fallen back to Q1 2021 levels. Other costs such as energy are however much above the levels registered in Q1 2021.