Italian heavy plate prices are increasing in new contracts compared to the beginning of September, while lead times have lengthened, Kallanish hears.
Mill sources describe activity as average. Consumption is not strong, but import restrictions are pushing buyers towards domestic material, keeping supply and demand well balanced. “The new quotas system has wiped off 1 million tonnes of imports per year,” one source says.
Distributors and service centres paint a different picture. They report relatively sluggish downstream demand, with customers reluctant to commit to volumes.
Mill lead times now stretch to the end of November.
Mills are considering increasing prices of S275 to €800/tonne ($895/t) base ex-works. This is driven by rising energy and slab prices. Slab prices are stable on-month at $570-580/t cfr depending on quality and volumes.
Current plate prices for S275 plate are at €780/t base ex-works or delivered, depending on customer, while S355 is fetching a premium of about €20/t.
Meanwhile, Northwestern European plate prices have stabilised, and after a period of weakness in the summer months are now back to the relative highs reached earlier this year.
Polish plate S235 is offered at $780/t ex-works, Eastern German customers asking for S355 could then calculate this to delivered prices of around €830/t. For the longer distances to Ruhr-based customers, the price could reach to €850/t ddp, and still be accepted by buyers (see Kallanish 2 October).
