In the week ending September 25, the prices of rolled steel products in Italy increased slightly. Manufacturers in the country continue to seek further price increases amid rising costs.
S235JR and S275JR rolled steel products were offered on the Italian market at about 750 euros per ton from the warehouse. At the same time, steel companies sought to raise prices to around 800 euros per ton from the plant.
Market participants do not expect significant price increases in the short term, but the number of transactions with products in this segment may increase early next year. Weak demand remains the main constraint.
In general, demand is not improving, and it takes time to raise prices, but cost revisions are necessary as energy, fuel, and logistics costs are rising," the Italian trader said.
At the same time, imported slab, which is the main raw material for European rolling mills, has risen in price. This also supported the increase in prices for rolled steel.
Slab offers from China and Vietnam were received at the level of 590-595 dollars per ton CIF Italy. According to some reports, Chinese material was also offered at 585 dollars per ton CIF Italy.
Turkish metallurgists, in turn, have raised prices due to the rising cost of ferrous scrap. Their offers reached $ 630 per ton CIF Italy.
At German integrated plants, slabs were purchased in limited quantities at a price of about 650 euros per ton.
In July and August, slab availability increased as exporters shifted their focus to supplying semi-finished steel products to Europe after a new quota system restricted access of finished steel to the EU market. At the same time, more and more European buyers are considering replacing imported hot-rolled coils with a slab with subsequent processing in the EU, since quotas do not apply to these products.
German factories had limited volumes of thick-rolled products for the spot market and kept prices stable at 850 euros per ton from the plant.
According to market data, the cost of a heavy plate at a factory in Western Europe was 850 euros per ton, and in Northwestern Germany - 870 euros per ton. In Italy, thick-rolled products for European production were estimated at 750 euros per ton, which is 5 euros higher than the previous level.
For a slab from Italy, the price was $585 per ton CIF, also with an increase of $5. High-quality green steel with emissions of 1-3 tons of CO2 per ton of products was quoted at 25 euros per ton unchanged.
