LONDON (Scrap Register): After a few weeks of rumours, the beginning of September has seen Italian steel producers follow their North European counterparts and announce increases to coil prices, said The Steel Index.
New offer levels for HR coil from Italian mills are in the €430-440/t range (ex-works). However, many market participants remain on the side-lines, opting to wait and see how the market reacts to such news.
Doubts remain amongst service centres as to whether they will be able to pass steel producers’ increases to endusers. One buyer in Italy dismissed mills’ attempts at price increases as “just hopes, or even ambitions”.
After an uneventful month for pricing in Europe, steel producers announced price hikes for coil products late August and early September, raising HR coil offer prices to €440-450 a ton and €430- 440 a ton for Northern and Southern European markets respectively.
