The price level of Italian-produced IPE of sizes up to 140 mm in Italy's domestic market is at €650/mt ($950/mt), while 160-200 mm IPE is at €670/mt ($980/mt), IPN-UPN of sizes up to 140 mm is at €645-650/mt ($943-950/mt) and IPN-UPN of sizes up to 200 mm is at €665/mt ($972/mt); all prices are ex-works, on actual weight basis and excluding VAT, for two-month deferred payment.
It has been observed that merchant bar prices have been on the increase in Italy. Besides the extra costs added to merchant bar prices at the very beginning of 2008, more recent production cost increases, caused by higher scrap and pig iron prices, have being causing some trouble for producers. SteelOrbis has been informed that the abovementioned production cost increases caused by scrap and pig iron are to be reflected on to small and large size merchant bar prices within a short time. Despite the fact that the IPE and IPN prices are usually at practically the same levels, the price of IPE, which is more popular in Italy, is at a slightly higher level compared to the IPN price.