The Italian rebar market has still failed to indicate a recovery. While local scrap prices have started to rise, domestic rebar base prices have remained at €270-280/mt ($354-367/mt) ex-works, but transactions continue to be concluded at €20/mt ($26/mt) lower than this level.
SteelOrbis has learned that domestic rebar demand has only seen a modest improvement and still remains very low. The lack of funding for the construction sector and companies' liquidity problems do not allow producers to operate as they did about seven months ago. In the face of lower revenues and market sluggishness, the confidence of market players is very low.
While it is difficult to attract significant orders in the Italian domestic rebar market, the situation is slightly better on the export side. Algeria, as usual, enables Italian producers to reduce their inventory levels. Export offers are currently at around €515-520/mt ($675-681/mt) FOB.