Producers and traders have given contrasting accounts of the latest developments in the Italian beams market.
The Italian steel mills do not accord great significance to the fall in the reference prices reported by the Brescia Chamber of Commerce price commission, attributing this dip in price levels to two factors. In the first place, the mills say the price drop may be due to the strong levels of competition among distributors which has been accentuated in recent days by the prospects of a slowdown in activity levels. In the second place, the producers say that the disturbance in prices may have been created by the arrival after some delays of orders which had been placed several months ago when prices were inferior to what they are today. Nevertheless, the producers continue to report sustained levels of orders (also for beams of smaller dimension) for the coming months, both for the national and international markets. Looking forward to the third quarter, the Italian producers expect to see upward movement in quotation levels.
Italian traders and service centers, however, tell a different story. The distributors have in fact subdivided the market into three categories. For beams of the first and second categories, they say that there is a greater availability of material compared to the recent past. This, combined with a psychological factor (the expectations of end-users for a drop in quotations), has caused a drop of around €10/mt ($14/mt) in quotations. Beams in the third category, however, enjoy a good equilibrium between demand and supply, resulting in substantial stability in prices. Offers of beams of large dimensions, however, are not sufficient to meet the levels of demand. This is leading to a rise in quotations and prolonged delivery times. Overall, real demand seems positive and in line with the period of the year.