According to market sources, Italian producers' offers to their domestic market for S275 heavy plates currently stand at €500-510/mt ($570-581/mt) ex-works, while during June they had softened gradually compared to late May, declining below €500/mt ($570/mt) in some cases. Now, thanks to the weakening of the dollar against the euro and the increase in raw material prices, heavy plate prices are shifting to an upward trend in line with other flat steel prices.
Italian producers are closing their last orders for July-August shipments in the range of €500-510/mt ($570-581/mt), while they aim to achieve levels of €520-530/mt ($593-604/mt) for September. In general, although demand is not strong, Italian producers have almost filled their order books, thanks to export orders. Looking ahead, for the September-October period significant volumes of imported heavy plates are expected to reach Italian ports, and this could prevent Italian producers' from increasing their prices unless domestic demand improves.
€1 = $1.14