Domestic heavy plate prices were stable in Italy over the week to Sept. 30 despite a slowdown in demand.
Platts assessed plate in Southern Europe at Eur1,000/mt ex-works Italy Sept. 30, unchanged over the week.
Deals and tradable value have been reported at Eur1,000-1,050/mt ex-works Italy.
Domestic prices in Germany moved down on the week as steelmakers gave discounts to settle deals.
Platts assessed plate in Northern Europe Eur25 lower on the week at Eur1,075/mt ex-works Ruhr Sept. 30.
Transactions and achievable prices have been reported at Eur1,070-1,080/mt ex-works Ruhr, while offers have been heard at Eur1,050-1,100/mt ex-works Ruhr.
Demand for heavy plate has softened this week as a majority of stockholders have already booked required volumes earlier in September. Slower trading activity, however, was unlikely to result in a price decline as demand from projects and other buyers remained healthy and as mills had good order books.
“Plate demand has declined a bit this week, mainly as stockholders have booked what they needed over the past couple of weeks,” an Italian source said. “Rerollers in Italy have sold out October and part of November rolling, so the demand slowdown had no negative impact on prices.”
In addition, the ability of steelmakers to give discounts was limited by elevated energy costs.
Platts assessed import slab in Southern Europe at $600/mt CIF Italy Sept. 30, unchanged over the week.
Cheap import offers from South Korea have disappeared from the market this week after the deals had been settled at $570-$600/mt CIF Italy earlier this month.
But offers from Asia still have been reported at $600/mt CIF Italy and from India — at $650/mt CIF Italy.
Platts is part of S&P Global Commodity Insights.
— Maria Tanatar
