Following a rather sharp price fall in early July, Italian mills have started increasing their offers. The main reason is the rather unexpected scrap price rise, which has given a certain boost to the number of rebar orders. In addition, since domestic suppliers are planning to slow down their production during the summer holiday period, the pressure on the local market will be much lower and prices are likely to increase further.
According to sources, Italian rebar producers have increased their official offers for rebar by €50/mt to €570-600/mt ex-works base or to around €830-860/mt ex-works including size extras. Buyers report the mills have suspended their ongoing negotiations and are expecting that next week prices may climb even a bit higher. Moreover, some market sources say that the mills have already received sizeable demand. “It seems that between last Thursday and yesterday, a producer received inquiries for more than 30,000 mt,” a trader told SteelOrbis.
In the wire rod segment, however, the prices for the drawing quality product were stable at €870-890/mt DDP at the end of last week. However, buyers expect to hear higher offers shortly since one of the leading producers has recently suspended all negotiations.