According to local sources, the month of August, although marked by the summer holidays, is considered to have been a good month overall for the Italian flat steel market. Compared to previous months, there was some improvement in end-user demand in August, with a slight increase in orders and moderate optimism seen among local operators. After the price upticks in early August, Italian producers believe that the time has come to take a further step forward on prices. Sources continue to hope for a modest recovery of consumption in the end-user market, which would allow further improvements in the market this autumn.
Currently, domestic producers' base prices are at €440-450/mt ($581-594/mt) for hot rolled coils (HRC), €500-510 ($660-673/mt) for cold rolled coils (CRC) and €490-500/mt ($647-660/mt) for hot dip galvanized (HDG) coils, all ex-works.
Nevertheless, the HRC price will only consolidate at €450/mt if in the coming period there are no reports of deals under the mentioned range. At the same time, HDG prices seem to be struggling to reach the €500/mt level.
Meanwhile, on the import side, operators are also looking forward to price increases. HRC offers from Turkey are at €440-450/mt ($581-594/mt) FOB, Indian offers for 2 mm HRC are at €450-455/mt ($594-601/mt) CFR Italy for October delivery, while in the European market quotations are at least at the base level of €455/mt and there are rumors (to be confirmed) of major increases by at least one European steel producer. Russia, finally, is offering limited volumes of HRC at €430/mt ($568/mt) FOB St. Petersburg.
€1 = $1.32