Rebar prices have stopped decreasing in Italy, at least for the time being. Due to the perception that domestic scrap price decreases have ended, prices of the finished product have remained substantially unchanged in the last ten days, i.e., at €420/mt ($462/mt) ex-works.
Nonetheless, demand for Italian rebar has continued to be weak, especially in the export market where Italian producers are offering rebar at prices in the range of €390-400/mt ($429-440/mt) FOB, without being able to sell. According to SteelOrbis, only one producer in the past few weeks has managed to close an export deal, selling 15,000 mt to Algeria but at a price of €380/mt FOB. It is hard to say how the market will evolve in the coming weeks, but among most operators there is a climate of pessimism.
"Producers have profit margins as scrap prices have fallen, but they are struggling to sell adequate volumes," one trader commented. According to this and other sources, precisely for this reason, there may be no other option for them in the short term other than to resort to production stoppages.
€1 = $1.10