According to market sources, the situation in the local Italian flat steel market has remained nearly unchanged as compared to the end of 2016. Since European producers all have full order books, it is difficult for buyers to find flat steel products with short lead times, while import offers are on the scarce side and uncompetitive. Flat steel demand in the local Italian market is not brilliant in general, but slightly better than the end of last year in some sectors such as automotive.
Over the past month, producers’ prices in the Italian flat steel market have remained stable at €530-570/mt ($567-610/mt) for hot rolled coil (HRC), have increased by €10/mt on the upper end to €650-680/mt ($696-728/mt) for cold rolled coil (CRC) and have declined by €10/mt on the lower end to €630-670/mt ($674-717/mt) for hot dip galvanized (HDG) coils, all ex-works. As reported previously, the prices at the lower end of the above ranges are those offered by southern European producers, while the prices at the higher ends of the ranges are offered by northern European producers.
Most sources think that the market situation will remain the same at least until the end of the first quarter, due to the fact that iron ore prices are still at relatively high levels despite all recent fluctuations. As reported previously, the uptrend in European flat steel prices which started last September has lost momentum, but a reversal of this upward tendency is not likely. European producers have no intention of selling at lower prices at present.
€1 = $1.07