The review of the price increases started with steel and iron: the reinforcing bars showed an increase of 150% between November 2020 and May 2021. This sudden increase is due to the demand from the construction sector in China which has triggered an upward effect on the price of the entire steel supply chain, worldwide, as China accounts for over 50% of world production and consumption of steel. steel (40% is absorbed by Chinese construction).

To push prices is the recovery of the global economy and the need to replenish stocks that had been drawn on in the months of the hardest lockdowns. The closing months have suggested to companies not to “pull” too much on the “just in time” system, zero stocks and supplies that arrive exactly when they are needed and consequently the recovery has generated a strong increase in demand.

The phenomenon is not only Italian but global. The commodity price index developed by Bloomberg returned to values ​​not seen since 2015 and, above all, it did so very quickly.

At this moment, measures are being examined to try to deal with this terrible rise in prices which, after a violent flare-up, has less pronounced but constant increases.