In the Italian domestic market, local producers' rebar prices have remained at €500/mt ($665/mt) ex-works. Nevertheless, in the last 10 days, some producers have been seeking higher prices of up to €520/mt ($692/mt) without any success. SteelOrbis has learned that in the past seven days order volumes have been up slightly compared to those recorded in the previous week, reaching decent though far-from-high levels.
On the export side, at the end of August and the beginning of September rebar offers of Italian producers were at €450-452/mt ($599-601/mt) FOB. After collecting a good volume of orders for September (about 25,000 tons of rebar each for a couple of manufacturers), prices have increased to around €460/mt ($607/mt) FOB. For the moment, rebar sales in the export market continue to be satisfactory, which is why it is believed that prices are unlikely to decrease. Italian steel mills seem determined not to allow prices to soften, also because they consider the current period as their last chance to recover some of the losses recorded in the early part of the year.
€1 = $1.33