According to sources, Italian producers are offering rebar to their domestic market at €420-430/mt ($491-503/mt) ex-works, compared to last week's levels of €410/mt. Although demand is still slack, domestic rebar prices in Italy have been supported by the rising trend of scrap and raw material prices, and also by the shortage of rebar in the market.
Meanwhile, the Algerian government has finally released the long-awaited rebar import licenses. However, Algerian importers are dissatisfied, to put it mildly. In January last year, the Algerian government had set quotas for imports according to which in 2016 it would limit rebar imports to two million metric tons, while the import licences that have been announced today, July 28, are for 534,100 mt only. Moreover, 180,000 mt of this figure have been allocated to state-owned companies, while the rest has been distributed to a little more than 100 private companies, which, having received very small quotas each, are not happy and are not interested in buying. In this context, Italian producers are currently receiving tenders only from Algerian state-owned companies. Average rebar export prices from southern Europe rebar are currently standing at €440-450/mt FOB ($515-527/mt). As the licences involve smaller tonnages than expected and as Algerian buyers are not in a rush to buy, it is not clear if and how Italian rebar producers will benefit from this unblocking of exports to Algeria. Besides, rebar production in the Algerian market is bound to increase progressively in the coming months and years on the back of the efforts made by the Algerian government.
€1 = $1.17