The Italian domestic beams market has undergone something of a transformation in recent weeks. Following the year-end pause for the holidays, the market in question has seen a change in January and is expected to register further increases in February - this is the view of Salvatore Venturo, commercial director for long products at Duferdofin, southern Europe's leading beam producer and subsidiary of steel trader and producer Duferco Group.
"As we had foreseen, from the start of the year beams have been on the road to recovery and by now the trend is definitely rising, just as it is for rebar and merchant bars," Mr. Venturo stated. The transformation is due to two reasons: first of all, due to the increase in input costs "which have led to an increase of €25-30/mt since January 2;" and, in second place, due to the reawakening of demand, both in the wider European market and in Italy. The Italian market, in particular, has benefited from the higher rhythm of purchases on the part of warehouses and service centers, "who at the end of last year had significantly reduced their stocks and who were obliged to replenish upon returning from the holiday."
With regard to prices, the path already appears to have been marked out for February. Demand in Europe and in the Mediterranean region (especially in Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Turkey) is increasing and therefore, as Mr. Venturo says, "another maneuver will be necessary in relation to prices." Any intervention will not be small-scale, also taking into account that "the surge in scrap prices will result in an upward correction of almost €30/mt in scrap extras by the major European producers."
The increase in quotations in the Italian market should be even more substantial, insofar as "currently there is still a substantial gap between the higher European prices and Italian prices. This difference should be reduced over the coming weeks."
As regards the increase in quotations, Venturo concluded; " I believe it is a positive signal for the whole sector, especially for distributors, who will be able to breathe again after the difficult times experienced during the final months of last year."