European heavy plate round-up: Italy’s heavy plate prices move down

Italian re-rollers accepted lower heavy plate prices in the week to 24 July in order to fill their order books faster, while lower slab prices supported the decline.

Deals for s235jr-grade plate in Italy have been heard at EUR690-720/t ex-works, while offers have been reported at EUR720-730/t ex-works.

“This is self-sabotage by the re-rollers. The demand is fine for this time of the year, yet they chose to cut their prices,” a plate producer said.

While demand has been declining following the summertime market cycle, consumption has remained healthy, sources said. But the re-rollers have been chasing volumes, and lower slab prices allowed them to be more competitive. European re-rollers traditionally rely on imported slab as feedstock for plate.

Import offers for slab from Asia have been heard at $560-570/t CIF Italy, and the mills expect additional discounts of around $10/t.

The re-rollers, however, are likely to attempt to increase offers to follow the recovery in the other flat steel products segment.

“Italians are still flexible on pricing. But they are already covered till mid-September, so I predict a price increase will be announced soon,” a German distributor said.

Despite the new import quotas which came into force on 1 July, a South Korean supplier sold s355jr plate to Spain at EUR770-780/t DDP.

In Northwest Europe, integrated steelmakers have been benefitting from long-term contracts and project deliveries, and they have been asking for higher plate prices.

Domestic s235jr-grade plate prices in Germany have been reported at EUR820-860/t ex-works, with limited volumes available on the spot market.

Re-rollers from Italy, France, and the Czech Republic have been offering s355jr plate to Germany at competitive prices of EUR800-810/t delivered.

Author: Maria Tanatar

opisnet.com