This week Italian producers Marcegaglia and Ilva announced domestic flat steel price increases in the range of €5-15/mt ($7-20/mt). The longed-for stability - a word barely whispered about 10 days ago - seems to have finally been achieved, at least in terms of prices. However, the slow drop in prices over the past two months has left its mark, particularly on traders and service centers whose profit margins have been cut to the bone. Despite the recent price increases, sources surveyed by SteelOrbis believe that the effect of such increases on purchasing volumes is minimal, since downstream demand continues to be slack. In the meantime, the usual problems persist as regards collection of payments, while oversupply continues to weigh on the overall European steel industry.
Local producers' domestic flat steel base prices are now at €430/mt ($565/mt) for hot rolled coils (HRC), €500/mt ($657/mt) for cold rolled coils (CRC) and €480/mt ($630/mt) for hot dip galvanized (HDG) coils, all ex-works.
€1 = $1.313