Observers of the northwest European plate market see little to no cause for an upturn in the summer months. If any price movement has occurred lately, it will have been downward.
In June, “the bottom was reached, so people thought. But no, it still softened a bit further,” a mill group’s manager tells Kallanish. He blames one Italian player, especially, for undercutting prices as they were. The manager admits he had not expected it, as mills were already standing with their backs against the wall. “They [the Italian player] must have some mixed calculation over their product range,” he believes.
According to him, Italian offers of S355 grade plate have undercut the mark of €700/tonne ($758) ex-works, while northwestern integrated mills have gone below the €800/t mark, but are trying to stay above €780/t.
One German buyer who buys strictly from integrated northwestern mills claims that prices remained at a stable low all through June. This could suggest that recent discounts came mostly from re-rollers in other countries.
An Austrian buyer confirms the picture, telling of offers again with lower prices in late June, mainly from Italy. Regarding offers from integrated mills, he does not exclude that some are available at under €770/t, depending on the tonnage.
He finds that plate is the product worst under pressure. “With other products like bar or sections, mills are at least starting to try to obtain better prices; for plate, I do not even see the idea of it,” he notes. He adds he has learned of a number of plate processors in Austria filing for state short working hours support, due to the lack of orders.
Christian Koehl Germany
