As learned from local sources, September, like August, was a good month for the Italian flat steel market. The market was characterized by greater optimism in September, by an increase in the volume of orders and by firmer prices, against the backdrop of a 0.2 percent increase in Italian industrial production in September over August. However, domestic industrial production was down 0.3 percent compared to September 2012 and by 24.8 percent compared to the pre-crisis peak in April 2008. In addition, confidence levels in Italian industry increased in September by 3.2 points compared to August. These weak improvements, according to Giorgio Squinzi, president of Italian employers’ federation Confindustria, “come from the change in the international economic situation” but they are “not enough to solve our problems as a country”.
In the opinion of market operators surveyed by SteelOrbis, at the end of September and in early October activity in the Italian flat steel market slowed down again, due to the political instability in Italy, but also because of developments in the Middle East and the United States, as well as due to the weakening of the dollar. As a result, the market situation appears to be more uncertain, and prices that appeared firm could be undermined. Regarding stocks, Italian producers have sufficient volumes to enable them to meet demand during a period of up to two months, while domestic service centers do not need to stock large volumes of material.
In the meantime, a decline in the volume of import offers from non-EU countries has been witnessed, along with a shortage of supply at Italian ports. Of course, local producers are benefitting from this situation as they have no concerns about losing their share in the domestic market.
Currently, Italian producers’ base prices are at €450-460/mt ($612-626/mt) for hot rolled coils (HRC), €520/mt ($707/mt) for cold rolled coils (CRC) and are at above €500/mt ($680/mt) for hot dip galvanized (HDG) coils, all ex-works.