Italian steel distributors report a weak second quarter

According to Italian distributors, demand for long and flat products in the processing industry is still weak. For many companies, the second quarter brought a significant decline in sales, according to Kallanish.

Usually, this period is marked by a seasonal upturn, when the sector demonstrates higher profitability and increases sales.

May showed weak results in terms of sales and margins, and June’s performance was even worse. One distributor reported a 30 percent drop in turnover in the second quarter. Another major market participant noted that volumes were down by more than half year-on-year.

Italian distributors do not expect demand to recover in July 2024. Given the challenging market conditions, it is becoming important for them to maintain healthy inventory levels and offer different options to customers in terms of brands and sizes.

Some steel mills are already adapting to these conditions by making strategic sales mainly from existing stocks, including a variety of products.

Currently, the supply of both long and flat products on the Italian market is limited but meets demand. In particular, the price of rebar is currently €600-630 per tonne ex-works with delivery.

As GMK Center reported earlier, sales of steel products by German distributors in May 2024 decreased by 8.9% month-on-month – to 770.91 thousand tons. The figure was down 4% compared to May 2023.