In the Italian flat steel market, prices have softened slightly compared to last week. As regards hot rolled coil (HRC), domestic producers’ price range last week was €430-450/mt ($490-513/mt) ex-works, but in fact transactions were concluded at a maximum price level of €430/mt ($490/mt) ex-works.
Domestic producers’ prices are now at €410-420/mt ($468-479/mt), for hot rolled coil (HRC), €520/mt ($593/mt) for cold rolled coil (CRC) and at €510/mt ($583/mt) for hot dip galvanized (HDG), all ex-works.
As reported previously, producers are all seeking to keep their prices firm. According to sources, this will inevitably lead to a reduction of orders in the coming months. In addition, two factors are increasing pressure in the market: on the one hand, the fact that sales are pretty modest and customers - who are not inclined to accept price increases - prefer to reduce their stocks, thus exerting pressure on the distribution sector; on the other hand, competitive import offers have started to appear but involve long delivery times (November at the earliest) and so Italian buyers prefer to buy in the domestic market at the moment. These factors should not have any significant impact on prices in the short term. Sources do not think prices will fall significantly in the coming months and think the current situation will continue.
€1 = $1.14