Abdelmadjid Tebboune, Algerian interim trade minister and also minister for housing and urban planning, has said he will discuss quotas for rebar imports and for other product imports at an inter-ministerial meeting, as reported by Algerian and French media.
Algeria, the largest importer of Italian rebar, imposed an import licence system in January 2016 to protect its economy amid the collapse in oil prices and other factors. The quota volumes for the current year have not been announced yet and this has halted the import market in Algeria and has reduced the availability of rebar in the country.
Sources told SteelOrbis that overall in 2016 Algeria imported 270,000 mt more than the 2 million mt limit that it imposed at the beginning of the same year. Currently, although rebar supplies are extremely low in the country, the Algerian government has shown no interest in accelerating the procedure for import licence renewals. On the contrary, as happened last year, pushing back their renewal is seen as a way to contain imports as much as possible. Nevertheless, sources think that the current situation will be resolved within a reasonable period of time.
Meanwhile, Italian producers are in wait-and-see mode. SteelOrbis has learned that some traders have asked them for prices at around €380-385/mt FOB, but the producers are not willing to sell rebar at this price level, as they are sure that, when the import licence issue is resolved in Algeria, export prices will increase.