<span>In spite of slackening demand for longs in the Middle East before Ramadan and in Europe in the period of summer holidays, CIS exporters of the material remain optimistic. Having closed August order book, some suppliers have started offering September output at similar prices. This is because of limited supply (some sellers have production problems) and due to solid demand from Iraqi buyers who have been the main regional consumers of rebar lately. Mainly customers from West Africa and Latin America show interest in purchases of wire rod. <br> Turkish mills have difficulties selling finished longs in foreign markets but do not plan to revise export prices so far, being supported by domestic market. <br> Notably, ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih has already started offering September output. Besides, deals for large batches of rebar (some 90,000 t in total) to Iraq have been closed at $725-730/t FOB. As previously reported, the producer still has production problems at its blast furnace, resulted in a drop in export shipments of July and August rolling. The company plans to solve them before September. <br> Metinvest International S.A. has already sold entire August output of wire rod from Makeyevka SW at $735-750/t FOB (latest deals were closed at $745-750/t FOB) and is out of the market now. <br> Shortage of supply is also observed in the Far East. Evraz Holding has sold out August rolling of the material at some $700/t FOB and makes no offers of September output so far. The most recent tender of Amurmetal was closed with a sale of August wire rod at $695-700/t FOB. <br> As expected, export prices for structurals have somewhat risen (up $10/t over the week). However, being fully booked up for August, not all suppliers have set prices for September material (e.g. Metinvest International S.A.). August rolling from Azovstal will reportedly be shipped with delay due to output problems. <br> (<a href="http://Source:%20www.metalexpert-group.com"><span><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">Source: www.metalexpert-group.com</font></span></a> )</span>