After decreasing to €400-410/mt in late October, domestic rebar prices have started to increase in the Italian market in the past ten days.
Local producers have succeeded in raising prices to €430/mt ($473/mt) ex-works, aided by the fact that domestic scrap prices have increased by about €20/mt in the past two weeks. In addition, they claim to be almost sold out, also considering they will carry out maintenance works in the next few months. Market sources believe that end-users' low stocks will lead to some restocking activity that should give strength to the current price levels at least until the beginning of next year.
As for the export market, in the past few weeks Italian mills have sold decent rebar volumes in the price range of €380-400/mt ($418-440/mt) FOB, and even slightly higher in some cases.
€1 = $1.10