According to market sources, after restocking in March and in the first days of April, Italian heavy plate traders have reduced their purchases in the past few weeks due to falling domestic demand and the slight decline recorded in domestic flat steel and scrap prices. Italian heavy plate producers have kept their prices stable, while traders in the domestic market have reduced their prices slightly in order to reduce their inventories.
Market sources noted that in past months hot rolled coil (HRC) prices had increased more quickly than heavy plate prices, while currently the gap between the two products is more reasonable. Italian producers’ offers for S275 heavy plates currently stand at €540-550/mt ($583-594/mt) ex-works, while the transaction prices for HRC are in the range of €510-525/mt ($551-567/mt) ex-works. Sources say that, as long as trading activity remains at decent levels, heavy plate prices are unlikely to decrease in the short term, also because slab inventories are not at high levels. It remains to be seen whether in the coming weeks there will be sufficient restocking activities to support current prices for a longer time.
€1 = $1.08