European heavy plate round-up: the summertime slowdown

European heavy plate prices remained stable in the week to 22 August due to the summertime slowdown, although some mills have made attempts to increase prices. 

Italian re-rollers have been offering heavy plate at EUR620-630/t ex-works, but trade has been thin with only a limited number of transactions with buyers outside the country reported at around EUR610/t ex-works. Activity in the Italian market remained muted due to the holiday season.

Offers and deals for imported slab from China have been heard at $510-520/t CFR Italy.

And semi-finished steel products from North Africa have been available at $500/t CFR and from Iran – at around $450/t CFR.

In September, when both buyers and sellers return to the market, Italian plate mills are expecting to push for higher prices citing the need to cover slab costs and seasonal demand recovery.

German mills have been offering plate at EUR680-690/t ex-works. But some sources said that one of the country’s mills has been ready to trade at EUR650/t ex-works due to lack of long-term contracts and orders from projects.

The number of offers from Central Europe has been limited, as Romania’s Liberty Galati has been idled after a failed restart attempt. Poland’s Huta Czestochowa has been focused on sales in the local market, reaching out to a limited number of buyers in eastern Germany.

And the Czech Republic’s Vitkovice Steel has been offering the material at EUR650/t ex-works, making the price, taking into account transportation costs, workable only to buyers in the east of Germany. The mill was reported to have solid order books and it was unlikely to give discounts.

Maria Tanatar Associate Director, Steel and Green Steel

opisnet.com