After having increased both in late July and early September, rebar prices in the Italian domestic market may now have reached levels which could cause customers to reduce their purchase activity. According to the latest market survey by SteelOrbis, current prices are at €515-520/mt ($664-671/mt) ex-works for rebars of 14-26 mm diameter.
Although suppliers want to push harder on the accelerator, the uptrend in the market is currently stalling as buyers show scant disposition to conclude new transactions due to the unfavourable environment for the Italian construction industry. Moreover, long steel producers are closely monitoring the evolution of scrap prices because, if raw material quotations remain at current levels, this could contribute to the firmness of rebar prices.
On the export side, the latest ex-Italy rebar offers are at €500/mt ($645/mt), down €10/mt ($13/mt) week on week. Indeed, according to market insiders consulted by SteelOrbis, the demand level overseas is low and the euro/dollar exchange rate at levels of around 1.28 has contributed to reducing the competitiveness of ex-Europe offers. In this context, in the next few days Italian steel mills will likely lower their export offers by another €10/mt ($13/mt) in order to stimulate Algerian customers to return to the market and book new orders.
€1 = $ 1.29