The price of rebar in Italy increased in the week ended Wednesday November 7, with the buy-side of the range seeing most of the upward movement.
Fastmarkets’s weekly assessment for steel reinforcing bar (Rebar) domestic, exw Italy was €850-870 ($892-913) per tonne, up from €810-860 per tonne a week earlier.
According to one distributor, mills have sold their December tonnages and were no longer competing for sales, and the lowest offers had disappeared from the market as a result.
“The producers have already sold the quantity that they will produce in December, that’s why they do not need to sell at cheaper prices,” said the distributor.
A similar sentiment was heard from a Spanish mill.
“We feel we have sold enough at previous price levels, and we don’t want to play with fire anymore. [We] want to protect ourselves a bit more, so we are trying to offer higher [prices].”
Rebar prices is Spain remained stable, however.
Fastmarkets’ assessment for steel reinforcing bar (Rebar) domestic, delivered Spain was unchanged on Wednesday at €730-760 per tonne.
Additionally, scrap prices have increased since mid-November, which has given further support to rebar prices.
Fastmarkets’ daily calculation for steel scrap HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix) North Europe origin, cfr Turkey was $381.09 per tonne on December 7, up from $361.44 per tonne a week before.
Market participants also said energy prices were expected to rise, which would lead to higher rebar prices in January.
Published by: Ross Yeo
