Closure of Ilva’s main blast furnace may lift South European HRC prices in April

UNITED KINGDOM April 17 2015 12:31 PM
LONDON (Scrap Register): With the closure of Ilva’s main blast furnace, some market participants expressed the view that this may support higher South European prices and trigger significant price increases in the near term, according to The Steel Index.

Doubts remain, however, as recent outages at several mills in the region had little impact - not lifting prices in a significant way.

In March, a stable month for European HRC prices, with trades concluding within the narrow ranges established in the beginning of the month. The weak euro kept importers largely at bay, but domestic producers were still unable to lift their prices.

Slower market activity in South Europe and the restart of deliveries by Ilva put pressure on the coil prices in the region. Asking prices from Italian mills were nearer to the €400 a ton mark in early March, trending down towards €390 a ton by the back end of the month.