Italian service centres bought very little steel from producers last week. Uncertainty over both domestic and international prices and safeguard duties is now causing the coil market in the country to stagnate. Prices for cold and hot rolled coil and hot dipped galvanized are stable compared to last week with low sales volumes and no significant change, Kallanish learns from market sources.  

The Italian steel industry is bracing itself for the week of 5 July. This is when the proposal outlined by steelmakers’ association Eurofer on the imposition of new safeguards measures in Europe is rumoured to come into effect with an official EU announcement. These measures are designed to shield the market from a possible further imports surge following the tariffs imposed by the US.

According to sources heard by Kallanish the announcement will have an immediate impact on prices that will most probably rise soon after it is broadcast. The strategy for most service centres for the remainder of June and beginning of July is to continue to destock and to buy as little as possible.

In confirming this possibility, sources close to large European mills suggest that possible price increase announcements could be made during the coming weeks. One source notes that potential price increases could be as much as by €50/tonne ($57.7/t) for HDG in particular.

Domestic HRC remains at €500/t base ex-works on average with fewer transactions at €490/t base ex-works. Tier-one European mills are holding their official asking prices at €520/t ex-works base, preparing new hikes. HDG and CRC, for which demand is said to be extremely low, are at the same level of €580-600/t base ex-works, sources say.