According to market sources, trading activity in the local Italian wire rod market has remained slack over the past two weeks, with local steel producers concerned about the downward trend of domestic scrap prices. Around the end of January and the beginning of February, Italian steel producers had made an attempt to increase their domestic wire rod prices, but without success as buyers halted their purchases.
Nevertheless, at the moment sentiment in the market has been indicating a gradual improvement, with some signs that local demand is starting to pick up. As the situation is still evolving, it is too soon to give any price levels, but sources say that domestic producers' offers for drawing quality wire rod may be at the level of €440/mt ($466/mt) delivered in the coming days, i.e., €10/mt more than two weeks ago.
€1 = $1.06