In the first week after the Christmas and New Year holidays, activity is still at very low levels in the Italian domestic rebar market. While in mid-December local prices were at €490-500/mt ex-works, now producers are asking for €490/mt ($568/mt) ex-works, even though they are struggling to obtain orders at this price level. Moreover, the recent decrease in domestic scrap prices - that so far have lost about €15/mt compared to December - could impact rebar prices in the coming period.
Meanwhile, regarding exports to non-EU countries, the situation is slack due to the fact that Italian rebar producers are not offering material or are not receiving demand. In particular, US buyers are unwilling to make purchases at the moment. However, Italian producers do not think that rebar prices will decrease significantly in the coming weeks, thanks to the EU safeguard measures. At the same time, they do not think they will sell much to non-EU markets in the coming weeks, as US buyers are not ordering and as Algeria is still closed to them, with Algerian buyers only asking for some products that Tosyali does not produce, such as 8 mm rebar). Furthermore, Italian producers also have to compete with Turkish suppliers in other markets.
€1 = $1.16