European heavy plate round-up: EU heavy plate prices started to rise

European heavy plate prices have started to recover in the week to 17 October, supported by combination of demand revival and the effects of the European Commission’s proposed new safeguard measures that will limit imports in the EU. 

Distributors that had been avoiding larger restocking over the past few months have returned to the market to book required volumes. This allowed steelmakers to fill their order books and gave them ground to ask for higher plate prices.

“Big distributors returned for restocking after several months of inactivity, so the order books of the mills are full now. We no longer need to chase the volumes and now we can target higher prices,” a steelmaker said.

In Italy, deals for big lots of plate have been reported at EUR590-600/t ex-works. Such prices have not been available for average buyers – they have been paying EUR610-630/t ex-works.

As Italian re-rollers already have limited volumes for December rolling they have been aiming to get prices of around EUR650/t ex-works for January. And suppliers have been in no rush to settle deals for the first quarter as they expect prices to rise further.

“Re-rollers [in Italy] started to ask for EUR40-50/t more for plate. I think it will be achieved in the next few weeks, supported by approaching carbon border adjustment mechanism [CBAM] and new quotas for imported steel,” a trader said.

The European Commission released its proposal for new steel safeguard measures on 7 October. McCloskey calculated around a 63% reduction in annual import volume within heavy plate’s product category 7 between the new proposal, and the existing safeguard system.

Market participants have expressed concerns that imports are too risky until the final version of the new safeguard regulation is available. A few sources expect that the measures could come into force in January next year.

Implementation of CBAM from 2026, combined with a lack of guidance from the EU authorities that would allow importers to estimate the duties is expected to deter buyers from imports at the start of next year and will support domestic prices.

European re-rollers need to achieve higher plate prices to cover higher slab costs due to CBAM.

Import offers of slab from China and Vietnam have been reported at around $520-530/t CFR Italy, with market participants estimating achievable prices at around $500-510/t CFR.

In Germany, domestic heavy plate prices have moved up to EUR670-700/t ex-works with deals heard at EUR670-680/t ex-works.