The market for thick-rolled products across Europe has remained virtually unchanged for several weeks amid sluggish trading, and buyers remain skeptical about price increases amid insufficient demand, Fastmarkets trading sources said on Wednesday, April 16.
[b]Italy[/b] Trading activity in the Italian market has been sluggish, mainly due to limited orders reported in the past week.Buyers estimated reasonable prices for commercial grade thick-sheet steel in Italy at 630-650 euros (716-739 dollars) per ton from the factory, compared with offers of 660-670 euros per ton rolled in April-May.
Transactions were reported at a price of 640-650 euros per ton from the manufacturer.
Some factories were considering the possibility of raising rental prices in May-June to 680-700 euros per ton from the manufacturer.However, the buyers stated that such prices are only possible for the project business and are "absolutely unattainable" with spot sales.
The price of slab raw materials for the production of slabs was stable at the level of 500-520 dollars per ton CIF, without reason, according to a customer source, this leads to higher prices for rolled products and weak demand.
