Italian rebar exports to Algeria have continued their resumption, causing sentiment to improve among Italian steel industry players. Rebar exports from Italy to this destination had ground to a halt after the announcement in mid-January by the Algerian authorities of a 2 million mt limit on rebar imports for 2016.
Italian producers are now offering medium-sized rebar to Algerian buyers in the range of €320-325/mt ($358-364/mt) FOB, down slightly over the past two weeks.
Meanwhile, in the local Italian market domestic producers' prices have declined by €25/mt ($28/mt) over the past two weeks to €315/mt ($353/mt) ex-works, while reports in the market indicate that it may also be possible to obtain some discounts. The soft trend of prices is due to low demand and the €10/mt ($11/mt) drop in the price of scrap over the past two weeks.
€1 = $1.12