According to market sources, Italian producers' offers to their domestic market for S275 heavy plates currently stand at €530-550/mt ($625-649/mt) ex-works. These price levels indicate an increase of about €50/mt compared to the beginning of July, when prices had bottomed at €490/mt ex-works.
In the past few months, thanks to good demand in the local Italian market, heavy plate producers obtained good order volumes for September and October deliveries. At present, the market is quieter and a slight decrease in prices is expected in October. According to sources, much will depend on the ability of local traders to sell without reducing their sales prices. Meanwhile, local heavy plate producers are unwilling to decrease prices by more than €10-20/mt, also considering the high level of slab quotations.
€1 = $1.18