Italian wafer manufacturers seek to increase prices

Italian plate producers are raising prices by €30/t ($32) compared to last month for grades S275 and S355. Sources told Kallanish that the market is calm due to the August hiatus in the sector.

Local millers are asking €700/t for S275 and around €730-740/t for S355. Last month they made significant efforts to reduce their prices, making import offers no longer competitive.

Prices have bottomed out and are expected to rise in future contracts, a factory source said. Considering current production costs and the cost of imported slabs, it is clear that July contract prices are not sustainable for producers as they operate on razor-thin margins. Some producers are starting to pull back from the low levels of sales seen in July.

In July, customers of all sizes showed reluctance to make purchases, and sales volumes were stable but low. Various buyers took advantage of competitive import prices in June, resulting in lower local sales volumes. Last month, the cost of material of Asian origin was about 600-620 euros/t cfr Italy.

According to information from distributors, there is continued stagnation in downstream demand. The current booking price for Asian slabs is around US$550/t cfr Italy. However, for larger volumes a slightly lower price of US$540/t cfr is being negotiated. At the moment, domestic transactions for the S275 grade are carried out at a price of about 650-660 euros/t ex-works in Italy. Meanwhile, sources suggest S355 is trading at around €680/t.