Local steel plate prices narrowed upward in Italy as mills sought higher levels amid rising production costs but buyers were slow to accept them, while a bigger increase was seen in Northern Europe, where mills are targeting 2027 deliveries, sources said on Thursday November 12.
Italy
In Italy, trading was slow, as sources said only marginal volumes were available for December but mills were struggling to reach targets for deliveries in 2027.
Latest indications were reported in the range of €740-760 ($823-846) per tonne ex-works, while a trade source said it was hearing deals at €745-760 per tonne ex-works.
A re-roller in the country said it was sold out for plate deliveries in the fourth quarter of 2026 and was targeting levels of €780-800 per tonne ex-works for January delivery in 2027.
The same source, however, described them as “not workable yet,” adding that stockists were not considering anything higher than €750-760 per tonne ex-works so far.
“Be it coils or plate, the key counterargument against price increases is the weak downstream activity and concerns about possible corresponding price increases for retail customers. Everything is slowed down by this purchasing stance,” the producer said.
The re-roller added that the cost pressure was “serious” and estimated production cost of plate in the range of €750-770 per tonne ex-works, adding that it would need to reach €780 per tonne ex-works to keep selling material in the first quarter of 2027. Achieved levels, however, had not yet met these targets.
“The market is simply not strong enough yet demand-wise to enter in any real shortage phase. Might happen later as we will be moving through Q1 deliveries but not really the case so far,” the supplier said.
Meanwhile, offers in the market reached as high as €800 per tonne ex-works, with the full range for January-February delivery in 2027 reported at €770-800 per tonne ex-works, but acceptance from buyers remained slow.
“Market participants expect purchasing activity to slow in the coming weeks,” a trade source said during the week.
As a result, Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel domestic plate 8-40mm, exw Southern Europe was €745-760 per tonne on Thursday November 12, narrowed upward by €5 per tonne from €740-760 per tonne a week earlier.
On the import side, plate offers were heard from India and Indonesia at €720-760 per tonne CFR Spain, but market sources said demand for imported material was limited due to stronger EU safeguards.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel plate (8-40mm), import, cfr main port Southern Europe was stable at €710-750 per tonne on Thursday.
Meanwhile, latest slab offers into Italy were reported at $580-600 per tonne CFR from Asian suppliers, with China quoted closer to $590-600 per tonne CFR. A trade source reported an indication of workable levels within $585-595 per tonne CFR.
A second trade source said it heard deals from China done at $590-610 per tonne CFR, but the upper end of the range was not considered in the assessment due to a lack of corroboration.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel slab, import, cif Italy, was $580-600 per tonne on Thursday November 12, unchanged from the previous week.
Northern Europe
In Northern Europe, sources said producers were aiming higher but buyers were not in a rush to order material, so a clearer picture of the market was pending.
Participants reported higher offers from mills at €870-890 per tonne ex-works for deliveries in the first quarter of 2027, saying no material was available for 2026 delivery.
The range was included in the assessment, despite the delivery time of up to six weeks in Fastmarkets’ methodology, because no material was available for earlier delivery.
Customers were “not really in the need to purchase,” a trade source said, adding that the new market price would be developed in the coming one to two weeks.
“The market is actually in a kind of standstill, as all stockists or cutting centres have ordered quite big volumes of November-December rolling to safe volumes and prices,” the same source said.
“Now mills are offering increased prices, but so far the purchasing needs are not very big, and customers are carefully checking the market,” the trade source added.
Two other trade sources reported an indication of workable levels at €840-860 per tonne ex-works, but the lower end of the range was not considered in the assessment due to a lack of interest from suppliers to offer at this level.
One of these traders reported offers at €850-880 per tonne ex-works citing mills in the region with availability for delivery in 2026.
However, most participants argued there were no free volumes for this period, after Fastmarkets reported on November 5 that producers in Germany were fully booked for 2026 due to strong demand coming from pipe projects.
For this reason, Fastmarkets’ latest weekly price assessment for steel domestic plate 8-40mm, exw Northern Europe was €860-885 per tonne ex-works on Thursday November 12, narrowed upward from €840-880 per tonne on November 5.
For plate imports, a trade source said offers into the region were “not available, or absolutely out of interest.” No fresh information was reported during the week.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel plate (8-40mm), import, cfr main port Northern Europe was €710-750 per tonne on Thursday, stable week on week.
