As reported previously, Italian rebar producers have started to offer rebar at €525/mt ($614/mt) ex-works for new orders, compared to the previous level of €495-505/mt ex-works. According to sources, this increase should be supported by factors such as high productions costs, low availability of supplies from producers, and the strong demand that has been recorded recently in Algeria, where Italian producers have sold rebar at prices between €490/mt and €495/mt FOB. "Even in Italy, demand has slightly improved, allowing better profit margins," said one source at a producer.
Meanwhile, producers underlined that they have plenty of orders up to the end of this year. Looking ahead, it is yet unknown if Algeria will release its rebar import licenses at the beginning of 2018. Due to this element of uncertainty, in the past months Italian exporters have started looking to other markets, that are less profitable compared to Algeria but are more reliable.
€1 = $1.17