In the Italian domestic market, rebar base prices remained in the range of €275-280/mt ($366-372/mt) ex-works, unchanged from last week. Many producers have announced price increases of €10/mt ($13/mt), effective from the beginning of next week, but have not received any response from the market. Market players are complaining about the lack of consumption, the scarcity of large orders and the fact that active construction sites are still too few to meet supply. These days, manufacturers are dealing with many insolvent customers and so in the absence of guarantees they are obliged to refuse orders in many cases.
According to market insiders consulted by SteelOrbis, in this period of stagnation in the domestic market Italian producers have at least managed to sell material to the export markets, at around €510/mt ($678/mt) FOB. According to the latest figures, in 2011 Italian exports of rebar to Algeria amounted to over 644,000 mt.
€1 = $1.33