In the month of October, prices of all steelmaking raw materials in Italy recorded a downtrend in the first two weeks of the month, switching to an uptrend in the last week of the month in question, as stated by Assofermet, the Italian association of traders of iron, steel, non-ferrous metals, ferrous scrap, hardware and similar goods.
Global iron ore prices recorded a 30 percent month-on-month increase in October and Assofermet states that for the time being there is no reason to believe that this trend will be reversed.
Meanwhile, few pig iron import orders are being placed by Italian customers, who instead prefer to purchase small volumes of domestic pig iron for prompt delivery.
Assofermet forecasts that the uptrend recorded in Italian pig iron prices in late October will mantain its momentum also during the winter season regardless of demand levels and despite the usual production halts implemented by Italian steelworks starting from mid-December.
As regards ferroalloys, in the last few months prices in Italy have remained on a soft trend due to scarce demand and sufficient supply.