European plate prices slide on subdued demand, cheaper slab

Low demand and cheaper slab prices dragged down plate prices in Europe in the week to Wednesday April 19, Fastmarkets heard.
Italy
Trading activity in Italy’s plate market was slow during the week.

Stockholders have only been making hand-to-mouth purchases lately due to questions about the direction of plate prices amid a recent downtrend in the slab market and difficulties with downstream sales.

Italian producers were offering plate at €900 per tonne ex-works for smaller allocations and for third-quarter projects. The workable price for stockholders for large orders was in a range of €850-870 per tonne ex-works.

Local suppliers could still offer some May-rolling tonnages to customers and reportedly had “plenty of June material.”

As a result, Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel domestic plate, 8-40mm, exw Southern Europe was €850-870 per tonne on Wednesday, down
by €20-30 per tonne from €870-900 per tonne on April 12.

Sources were not ruling out the possibility of prices falling further ahead of summer.

“Import prices for slab and plate will very soon force rerollers to lower domestic plate prices also in view of the advancing summer holidays,” a source said.

Prices for steel slab, the key feedstock for plate production, have declined, leaving Fastmarkets’ latest weekly price assessment for steel slab import, cif Italy at $680-710 per tonne on April 12, down from $720-730 per tonne on April 6.

In the week starting April 17, several sources reported even lower slab offers from Vietnam — at $640 per tonne CFR.

Plate from Asia was available to Italian buyers at €830-840 per tonne CFR for June shipment, while one Indian mill was even cheaper — at €815-820 per tonne CFR.

Northern Europe
Trading was subdued in Northern Europe due to bearish sentiment from buyers and a lack of confidence in the sustainability of end-user demand during the summer months.

One integrated mill in Germany was closing deals for May-rolling plate at €1,000-1,020 per tonne EXW, sources said.

One trader reported a transaction at €990 per tonne EXW, but this had not been widely confirmed by other sources.

Another integrated producer, traditionally more focused on project business, was offering plate at €1,070 per tonne EXW, which was not workable for the spot market, sources said.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel domestic plate, 8-40mm, exw Northern Europe was €1,000-1,020 per tonne on Wednesday, down by €30 per tonne week on week.

Cheaper offers were available from other European mills to the region.

Offers from a Denmark-based reroller to Germany were heard at €1,020 per tonne CPT for S355-grade plate for May delivery.

Plate from France was offered to Germany at €1,000-1,020 per tonne CPT, also for May delivery.

One source reported an offer from a Czech reroller to Germany at €1,020-1,040 per tonne CPT for S355-grade plate.

Polish integrated mill was offering S275-grade plate to the domestic market at €950-970 per tonne CPT.

Published by: Julia Bolotova