According to market sources, the situation in the Italian domestic flat steel market has remained unchanged during the past week. Meanwhile, the order books of European producers are full and lead times are longer compared to the same period last year, while import offers are still on the scarce side and are not attractive.
Currently, domestic producers' base prices in Italy are at €540-570/mt ($578-610/mt) ex-works for hot rolled coil (HRC), down €10/mt on the lower end week on week. Meanwhile, producers’ cold rolled coil (CRC) and hot dip galvanized (HDG) offers have remained stable at €650-680 ($696-728/mt) and at €630-670/mt ($675-717/mt) respectively, both 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.
According to sources, producers are thinking about increasing their prices in the coming period. One of the reasons for new price increases are the higher prices which were paid by producers for raw materials in the fourth quarter of 2016, which will impact the costs they will sustain in the second quarter of this year. Sources think that producers may make a decision next week, shaking things up in the market.
€1 = $1.07