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Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel sections (medium), domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was €1,065-1,160 ($1,208-1,315) per tonne on Wednesday, compared with €1,065-1,120 per tonne a week earlier.
Distributors insisted that previously available prices at the low end of the range were still on offer, and that they had purchased at those levels within the past week.
“[Producers] keep saying the price needs to go up because of [high] energy [costs] but it’s not really coming through. Demand isn’t really strong enough,” one distributor in the Benelux region said.
Distributors in Northern Europe described demand as low but in line with seasonal expectations.
Producers, on the other hand, claimed that offers and, consequently, sales prices had increased significantly, and that further increases were likely because of the rising costs of energy and transportation.
In Italy, producers said that deals had been heard at prices as high as €1,150 per tonne ex-works.
Producers also pointed to rising prices for hot-rolled coil, the feedstock for sections.
Fastmarkets’ daily calculation of its steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Italy, was €884.83 per tonne on February 16, up from €823.75 per tonne a month earlier.
The weekly price assessment for steel sections (medium), domestic, delivered Southern Europe, was €1,065-1,160 per tonne on Wednesday, compared with €1,065-1,120 per tonne a week earlier.