Rebar prices have decreased further in the Italian domestic market in the past week, in line with the decline in local scrap prices this month. At the same time, demand has remained low owing to the expectations of further price decreases. Rebar prices are now at €570-580/mt ex-works, down €10/mt on the upper end compared to last week. Meanwhile, no offers have been reported for the export market due to the lack of demand. One source at an Italian long steel producer explained, "Back in November, many customers in central Europe, especially Germany, received big orders for shaped rebar for all 2021 at a price around €480/mt delivered. At the time, no one expected that rebar would reach about €600/mt ex-works in mid-January. Therefore, buyers are now waiting for rebar prices to go back to the previous levels, but this is not going to happen. In this context, they will only buy what they urgently need and, in the meantime, they'll keep consuming their existing stocks. However, the same buyers do not need to buy a lot since activities are not frenetic due to the winter season."
According to the same source, this applies to some Italian buyers too. At the same time, shipments via ship are nonexistent due to the fact that Algeria is producing its own rebar in high quantities and is offering competitive prices, while Canada has issued preliminary antidumping margins against ex-Italy rebar.