According to sources, Italian producers are all selling rebar to their domestic market at €410/mt ($476/mt) ex-works, compared to last week's levels of €400-410/mt. The rising trend of scrap prices has continued to provide support for rebar prices, though domestic demand for rebar remains slack in the meantime.
Meanwhile, due to the lack of exports to Algeria - as import licenses have not yet been released in the North Africa country - Italian producers have had to turn to other export destinations such as Canada, the US and Libya in the past few months. Sales to these destinations have been strong, although these new markets have not been as profitable as Algeria in terms of prices. Currently, because of sales concluded in past weeks, hardly any Italian rebar producers have products to offer. According to market sources, in the second half of this year Italian producers may concentrate on increasing their margins rather than their sales volumes.
€1 = $1.16