During the past week, flat steel prices in the local Italian market have increased further, with hot rolled coil (HRC) base prices now at €480-495/mt ($566-584/mt) ex-works compared to €470-480/mt ex-works last week. Meanwhile, cold rolled coil (CRC) and hot dip galvanized (HDG) coil base prices of Italian producers are now at €570-580/mt ($673-684/mt) and €590-600/mt ($696-708/mt) respectively, ex-works.
Sources have noted that, after the proposal of the European Commission to adopt measures against imports of hot rolled flat steel coming from Brazil, Iran, Russia and Ukraine, the number of import offers has decreased in the market. This has supported the recent increases in the Italian flat steel market, which are also supported by the increases in raw material and flat steel prices in the global market. Moreover, market sources report that ex-India and ex-Turkey flat steel offers to Italy have been increasing. At present, the most common opinion in the market is that local flat steel prices in Italy will remain stable until late August, but that local producers will try to push for further increases when they come back from the summer holidays.
€1 = $1.18