European heavy steel plate still under pressure on weak demand

European heavy steel plate prices have shed Eur15-20/mt in the last two weeks and remain under pressure due to weak fundamentals and fierce competition between European producers, market sources said.

"The fundamentals are bad, with the exception of the energy sector, renewables and offshore," a north European producer said. "There is a lot of competition in Europe; although imports are fewer, export doesn't exist and we are all trying to sell in Europe where the demand is bad. Nevertheless we think that the US could became an active market soon again."

According to several sources, Italian re-rollers have been very aggressive, with quotations for S235 at Eur470/mt base ex-works. "Italians before the summer are usually cheap because they try to be fully booked before the summer stoppages," another north European source said.

Prices for slabs, the raw material used by Italian re-rollers, were averaging around $430/mt base FOB Black Sea, sources said, with prices expected to decline for new orders -- July production for September delivery -- due to be discussed soon.