Italian hot rolled coil prices are soaring by €20/tonne ($23/t) in a sudden turn of events that is seeing all international producers selling very large volumes to China.

As China is absorbing material, particularly from other parts of Asia, Italian domestic re-rollers and service centres can only rely on domestic producers. Considering the country’s largest steelmaker, the former Ilva, is running at minimum capacity, HRC is becoming a precious commodity in the country. Price pressure is therefore increasing every day, Kallanish learns from local sources.

Traditional suppliers of HRC into Italy, such as Indian, Turkish and Korean producers, are not willing to sell to Italy at current prices because their selling prices to China are much higher. Domestic producers, traders and importers are now convinced that a substantial price increase will happen after the summer break in Italy and other European countries. This is seen lasting through the end of the year.

Meanwhile, after a long period of struggle to fill August and September order books, domestic producers’ books are now filled through October as the market is suddenly moving. Announcements from local mills of price hikes exceeding €30/t are expected by the end of this week or beginning of the next, Kallanish is told.

This month, the price of HRC from domestic producers has gone up from €380/t base ex-works to €400/t base ex-works. Some steelmakers are beginning to refuse any transactions below the level of €410-415/t base ex-works, sources suggest.