European steel heavy plate prices remained stable in the week to Thursday October 15 amid moderate demand and slow trading activity, while import activity was limited due to higher delivery and CBAM-related risks, sources told Fastmarkets.
Southern Europe
In Italy, steel plate prices were unchanged during the week, with most indications reported by sources within €740-750 ($830-841) per tonne ex-works. Higher levels were indicated by a trade source at €750-760 per tonne ex-works, but no trading activity was confirmed at the upper end of the range.
Offers for material were heard in the range of €760-780 per tonne ex-works, but no deals were done at these levels as well.
“Market activity in Italy has remained relatively stable, albeit at a low level, for around a month,” a trade source said, adding that plate re-rollers in the region were facing difficult times, as “demand has simply disappeared.”
A producer in Italy said that the projected cost of production for plate was closer to €780-790 per tonne ex-works, based on the latest slab prices and deposit requirements linked to the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) for imports in the first quarter of 2027.
“Energy tariffs are also pumping up the cost of production additionally,” the same producer said, adding that it has closed some plate orders with delivery in the first quarter of 2027 at €780-820 per tonne ex-works, but “not much and not [with] purely commercial specifications.”
Because of this and the delivery period exceeding Fastmarkets’ methodology window of up to six weeks, these higher deal levels were discarded from the weekly assessment.
As a result, Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel domestic plate 8-40mm, exw Southern Europe was €740-750 per tonne on Thursday October 15, stable week on week.
Slab import prices into Italy declined slightly during the week due to lower Chinese offers, while no major trading activity was reported.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel slab import, cif Italy was $580-595 per tonne on Thursday, widened downward by $10 per tonne from $590-595 per tonne a week earlier.
Meanwhile, plate import offers from India and Indonesia to Spain were reported at €720-760 per tonne cost and freight (CFR) during the week, but were not attracting customers’ interest, according to sources.
“CBAM, import regulations [are] causing immense problems, therefore, buyers and end users abstain lately from placing import orders,” a trade source said.
However, a producer in Italy said they heard Indonesia selling plate at €800 per tonne delivered duty paid (DDP) Antwerp and Spain, despite the deposit requirements for imported material linked to CBAM. This price was discarded from Fastmarkets’ CFR-based price assessment.
“Apparently, they decided to ignore the matter of the €250 ($280) per tonne deposit for CBAM for now. How it will work for them eventually, let’s wait and see,” the same producer said.
Thus, Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel plate (8-40mm), import, cfr main port Southern Europe, was €710-750 per tonne on Thursday, stable week on week.
Northern Europe
In Northern Europe, sources reported indications of workable levels for commodity plate in the range of €840-880 per tonne ex-works during the week, mostly unchanged from previous levels.
Offers were reported at €840-870 per tonne ex-works in the region. A trade source said demand was not booming, but it was also not bad, linking this to infrastructure and demand for downstream products made from plate.
Some mills were fully booked by the end of 2026 and offering in 2027 already, while others still had capacity left for this year, the same source said, also reporting orders for S355-grade plate at €900-940 per tonne delivered, which were discarded from the assessment covering S235-grade.
The trade source added that plate delivery from Italy to Northern Europe was mainly being done by truck or train at around €90-100 per tonne, with deals concluded for 1,000-3,000 tonnes.
According to an Italian re-roller, plate prices for deliveries from Italy were around €830-840 per tonne carriage paid to (CPT) for S235-grade and at €860-870 per tonne CPT for S355-grade in Germany. These prices were not included in the assessment, which covers domestic plate production.
Fastmarkets’ latest weekly price assessment for steel domestic plate 8-40mm, exw Northern Europe was €840-880 per tonne on October 15, unchanged from the previous week.
On the import side, only the deal from Indonesia was heard at €800 per tonne DDP Antwerp, while a trade source said that shipments in the region were “still delayed as main rivers like Rhine and Danube [were] facing serious low waters.”
For this reason, Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel plate (8-40mm), import, cfr main port Northern Europe, was €710-750 per tonne on Thursday, stable week on week.
Vlada Novokreshchenova in Dnipro, Ukraine, contributed to this article.
