European steel heavy plate prices were largely unchanged this week, with Italian mills reporting steadier sales despite ongoing weak demand. Meanwhile, slab import prices into Italy increased on firmer Asian offers, lifting the market higher week on week, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday October 8.
Italy
In Italy, a producer said it was selling more regular volumes of base-grade plate in the market during the last 10 days, closing deals at €750 ($840) per tonne ex-works even for bigger orders of 500-1,000 tonnes.
The same source also said they achieved some project-related deals for the rest of the year and early 2027 at €780-790 per tonne ex-works for base-grade plate, but these were discarded from Fastmarkets spot price assessment.
Meanwhile, a trader said that €740 per tonne ex-works was still possible to achieve in the market, while €750 per tonne ex-works was “the maximum deal price.”
A second trader said workable levels for plate were at €730-750 per tonne ex-works on Thursday, but the lower end of the range was not strongly corroborated among other market participants, therefore it was not included in the final assessment.
As a result, Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel domestic plate 8-40mm, exw Southern Europe was €740-750 per tonne on Thursday October 8, stable week on week.
Slab import prices into Italy increased week on week, with latest offers from China heard at $590-595 per tonne cost, insurance and freight (CIF). Indications of workable levels were reported in the same range, which was higher than those heard in the market at $580-590 per tonne CIF on October 1.
Chinese mills were slowly returning to the market after public holidays, which took place on October 1-7, so no active deals happened during this period, sources said.
“Unlike the period of active bookings some 2-3 weeks ago, today I can’t confirm that they [Chinese mills] still accept $580 [per tonne CIF] after negotiations,” a buyer said.
Meanwhile, Vietnamese mills were heard offering material to Italy at $530 per tonne free on board (FOB), which is equivalent to around $600 per tonne cost and freight (CFR) after adding freight of $70 per tonne, a trade source said, but no transactions were confirmed at these levels yet.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel slab import, cif Italy was $590-595 per tonne on Thursday, up from $580-590 per tonne a week earlier.
Northern Europe
In Germany, sources indicated workable levels for base-grade plate at €850-880 per tonne ex-works, unchanged from a week earlier. No major buying activity was reported during the week, as mills were offering longer delivery times, a trade source said.
A second trade source said levels for plate in the Benelux area were within €840-860 per tonne ex-works, saying the commodity market was “lousy”. The same source added that German mills were well booked, while Benelux mills were “hungry for commodity”.
Thus, Fastmarkets’ latest weekly price assessment for steel domestic plate 8-40mm, exw Northern Europe was €840-880 per tonne on October 8, widening downward by €10 per tonne from €850-880 per tonne on October 1.
