Following a year which had brought very strong increases, in the month of February the Italian domestic rebar market seems to have become somewhat static - this is the picture presented by the market players who were interviewed.
During the month of January, base quotations for rebar - as reported by the Brescia Chamber of Commerce - underwent a very significant increase, rising as high as €320-330/mt. Added to this price rise, size extras registered a climb of over €20/mt with respect to December levels.
A change was noticed, however, as January came to an end and as February got underway. Indeed, from the start of February, prices have been stable and could remain so until the start of March.
There are two principal causes for this halt in the rising trend of the market. In first place, a slowdown has been observed in apparent demand. The performance in January had been so impressive as traders moved to conclude huge quantities of purchases, in order to replenish inventories which were at low-to-medium levels.
In second place, the lull in real demand has also been a contributing factor. End-users are now purchasing the strict minimum, on account of the strong price changes and the negative atmosphere in certain sectors.
Producers, for their part, do not want to give ground as regards quotations and are seeking to maintain them at current levels, supported in this aim by the good performance in exports. Market players report that Italian rebar producers so far in February have already shipped all the material they had originally reserved for export orders for the whole month.
In the market, stability is being predicted for the remainder of February, and the end of the month is expected to be reached under the sign of essential equilibrium.