Italian heavy plate prices are holding stable this month, with some demand resurfacing and order intake picking up, following a prolonged period of weakness in June, Kallanish hears.
Some mills are said to be reluctant to sell at current prices, which fell in June and are now considered too low. With order books covered until the end of August, they are under no pressure to accept today’s levels and are insisting on increases.
They expect values to rise sharply in September as the new safeguard replacement and CBAM make importing increasingly difficult. An expected coil price acceleration in September is also expected to support plate prices, as buyers resume purchasing in Europe.
Distributors, however, see no near-term recovery in plate, with downstream order volumes remaining persistently low. They too expect demand to return in September, with some price increase driven by the new safeguard measures.
This week prices for S275 grade remain at €720/tonne ($823.2/t) ex-works, with some €740-750/t delivered for S355 grade. Asian slab prices are stable at $600/t cfr Italy, sources say.
Meanwhile, some German plate buyers are taking advantage of the pre-summer dip at Italian re-roller mills, however, these offers do not work for everyone due to high transport costs (see Kallanish 6 July).
