Reduced steel production and delayed deliveries from Italian steelmaker Ilva will support the rise of Southern European domestic prices for hot-rolled coil (HRC), market sources have told Metal Bulletin.
Ilva has lowered its HRC output in recent months due to instances of industrial action and technical problems with its equipment, according to sources. These problems have led to tighter supplies of the flat steel product in Italy."At the moment, Southern Europe is lacking 2-3 million tonnes of commodity-grade coil from Ilva," an Italian distributor said."The situation with Ilva has been supporting the rise of domestic prices. Although it is not the only reason [behind the price rise], if Ilva's coil output started to recover, the price rise would not be that sharp," he added."Output is very poor at the moment. They have basically lost a month [of HRC production]," one buyer said.Ilva is expected to produce less than 5 million tonnes of crude steel in 2018, according to market participants, with the company's overall volumes for 2017 believed to be around 5 million tonnes.Ilva did not respond to requests...