According to sources, flat steel prices in Italy have decreased further in the past three weeks. Currently, Italian producers' domestic hot rolled coil (HRC) base prices are mostly at €490-500/mt ($558-570/mt) ex-works, down €30/mt, while cold rolled coil (CRC) and hot dip galvanized (HDG) prices are at €580-590/mt ($661-673/mt) and €590-600/mt ($673-684/mt) ex-works, decreasing by €20/mt and €15/mt, respectively.
Once again, market sources have attributed the recent prices decreases to the slowdown in the European automotive sector, which constitutes a significant part of many European flat steel producers’ sales, and also to the predictions of a further weakening of this particular end-user sector in the coming months. Demand from the automotive industry has declined since late summer, as car sales began decreasing largely due to new pollution regulations.
€1 = $1.14