Some Italian welded tube re-rollers will increase prices starting this week. Sources from hot rolled coil mills, re-rollers and distributors are registering a price floor for domestic and imported HRC, with expectations of some mild increases for European coil and derivatives.
The unsustainable price of tubular products is causing margin pressure for all southern European re-rollers. An Italian tube maker sees production costs increasing in 2024, worsened by the several production stoppages implemented this year to balance demand and supply.
Some tube demand improvement is being reported in Italy. Last week’s activity was slightly higher than usual and positive signs are coming from those end-users who have suffered a strong order contraction in recent months, Kallanish hears.
A re-roller confirms he is starting to decrease discounts by a couple of points this week. Although the fragile market conditions persist, a gradual increase made of “small steps” is achievable in the coming weeks. Until last week, discounts in Italy stood at 38-39 points.
European HRC levels are expected to recover by €10-20/tonne ($10.8-21.6) in contracts in the coming weeks. Steelmakers say they cannot sustain the average level of €650/t base delivered and will try to push up values towards the level of €680/t.
Natalia Capra France
