With the ending of the summer holidays in Europe, flat steel demand in the region is foreseen to improve towards the end of this week and next week. But for now, in the first week of September, demand is still sluggish as it was throughout August.
Markets are rumoring that Italian steelmakers are preparing to increase their flat steel prices slightly. In the past weeks, hot rolled coil (HRC) prices in the Italian domestic market were at €510/mt ($719/mt) ex-works.
In the Bulgarian domestic market, flat steel demand is reportedly at relatively good levels for summer time, though not high, while flat steel import offers given to Bulgaria have remained unchanged as compared to previous weeks. In the local Bulgarian market HRC prices are at BGN 1,050/mt ($755/mt) ex-warehouse, while Ukrainian HRC offers to Bulgaria have been at $725-730/mt CFR.
Flat steel demand in Greece is low, while some recovery is expected to be seen in the coming weeks. However, if the country's economy does not show any improvement and the country fails to reduce its debts despite foreign support, it is thought that the sluggishness in the Greek flat steel market may continue for a long period.
To sum up, after the summer holiday the sluggishness in European flat steel markets is predicted to continue for a while in early September. However, following a period spent monitoring the markets, demand and producer prices are anticipated to increase.