"The persistence of the very high price of some factors used in the production of our products, the rebound of scrap prices and the inflationary trend of energy" are the reasons why AFV Beltrame Group, the Vicenza, Italy-based steel group which is the European leader in the merchant bar market, will increase its list prices by €20/mt effective from July 2.
"In order to balance this impact, maintaining our competitiveness and the possibility to ensure for the future the same supply performances to our customers, starting from July 2, 2018 the price of all the Beltrame Group products will increase by €20/mt," according to a company statement.
Due to low demand, merchant bar prices have been slowly decreasing since March, after reaching the year-to-date peak of €160/mt ex-works*. Taking into account the above-mentioned increase, prices should reach the €150-160/mt level after reaching a minimum level of slightly below €130/mt in the past few weeks.
*In the Italian market, price extras can vary in the range of €410-610/mt ($480-713/mt) for domestic sales, depending on dimension and product.