The Italian flat steel market remains depressed. Demand continues to be weak and is insufficient to support the wished-for price increases. In general, hot rolled coil (HRC) base prices have been standing at €520-530/mt ($686-700/mt) ex-works, cold rolled coil (CRC) base prices are at €600/mt ($792/mt) ex-works, and hot dip galvanized (HDG) coil base prices are standing at €560-580/mt ($739-766/mt) ex-works. Nevertheless, last week one major Italian producer raised its offers, increasing its HRC base prices to €540/mt ($713/mt), its CRC base prices to €610/mt ($805/mt) and its HDG base prices to €600/mt ($792/mt), all ex-works.
In general, the Italian flat steel market is still very quiet, both domestically and on the import side. According to market players consulted by SteelOrbis, the flat steel materials arriving at Italian ports corresponds to one tenth of the volumes recorded at the same time last year.
In the meantime, in the rest of Europe and outside it, the situation is better. As regards imports from non-EU countries, prices have generally risen by $20/mt.
€1 = $1.32