According to the latest market survey by SteelOrbis, in the past week the average prices of 14-26 mm rebar in the Italian domestic market remained at €495/mt ($624/mt), even if market operators report increasing pressure by buyers seeking to gain lower quotations. At the moment, actual transactions may see discounts of €5-10 ($6-13/mt) compared to the official producer prices. For the time being, the downtrend which had lasted for six to seven weeks has apparently ceased. Demand in the domestic market remains lackluster.
On the export side, the demand level has generally been decreasing over the past month due to the approach of Ramadan (starts on July 20). However, in the last seven days a moderate uptick was observed in foreign demand, perhaps due to the last orders being placed before market activity freezes in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The latest export transactions were concluded at €490/mt ($617/mt) FOB, trending sideways to slightly down compared with last week.
With some rebar purchases also postponed as news is awaited of raw material purchase prices of steel producers, demand for rebar in July is unlikely to increase in Italy or in the export markets. Nevertheless, the last requests made to fill users' warehouses before the production halts for the summer could increase market activity sufficiently in order to avoid further downward movements in domestic steel mills' official rebar prices.
€1 = $ 1.26