Flat steel demand in Portugal continues to remain at very low levels, with no expectation for a revival this week. However, it is thought that demand may show some improvement in September.
Flat steel prices in the Portuguese domestic market have not shown any changes in the past month.
Accordingly, prices of hot rolled sheet (HRS) in the Portuguese flat steel market are still standing at €590-600/mt ($743-756/mt) ex-warehouse, hot rolled coil (HRC) base prices are still at €515-520/mt ($649-655/mt), while local producer Lusosider's domestic offers for September rolling hot dip galvanized (HDG) coil are at the level of €595/mt ($750/mt) ex-works.
On the other hand, HRC offers from Italy to Portugal for September/October output have shown an increase of about €10/mt as compared to offers for August production.
Italian HRC offers to Portugal are currently standing at the base price level of €515/mt ($649/mt) CFR, while CRC offers are at base price level of €590/mt ($743/mt) CFR. In the meantime, offers from Italy for HDG of 0.5 mm and above thickness are at €560/mt ($706/mt) CFR and offers for HDG thinner than 0.5 mm are at €580/mt ($731/mt) CFR. All offers are for September and October production.
€1 = $1.26