In Italy, prices widened in both directions following an uptick in purchasing activity.
Italy
Fresh bookings in Italy’s domestic heavy plate market were made at €590-620 per tonne EXW and deals heard second-hand at €600-620 per tonne ex-works.
One producer source said that, starting from last week, stockists in Italy and other European markets have “finally restarted purchasing” and have adopted a bullish outlook for the coming weeks.
“We have collected more orders in 10 days than in the whole month of September,” the source said.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel domestic plate, 8-40mm, exw Southern Europe was €590-620 ($686-721) per tonne on Thursday, widening by €10 per tonne in both directions from €600-610 per tonne a week earlier.
Some offers for December-January delivery came in at €650 per tonne ex-works, Fastmarkets understands.
But despite prices in Italy widening, other efforts to raise prices by Italian re-rollers have been met with some hesitation over trade policy uncertainty in Europe.
“In Italy, re-rollers are pushing for higher prices to offset increasing slab costs, with CBAM duties [estimated to be] adding about €50 per tonne,” a buyer source said.
Northern Europe
Trading in domestic commodity-grade plate remained muted in Northern Europe over the past seven days, but prices increased on higher import offers for Indonesian plate at €650-670 per tonne CFR – including full CBAM duties.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel plate (8-40mm) import, cfr main port Northern Europe was €650-670 per tonne, up by €40-55 per tonne from €595-630 per tonne a week earlier.
“With CBAM set to take effect in 2026, import prices are already elevated,” the first buyer source said.
Domestic plate offers from Germany were heard at €650-690 per tonne ex-works, but sources told Fastmarkets they have been offering discounts on grade surcharges and “sometimes cutting them in half” to attract buying interest.
However, regional import deals to Northern Europe were reported at €680-690 per tonne CPT, with one offer heard at €700 per tonne CPT.
