Italian Beltrame Troubled by Raw Material Costs

The steelmaker has published a brochure showing annual increases in the company's purchase prices. These refer to its own commercial bar and beam divisions in Italy and France and to its facilities in Switzerland for its own rebar division.
The Western European commercial profile market is suffering in terms of prices and sales volumes. Producers are therefore faced with rising raw material prices and are struggling to find a balance between margins and costs.
Beltrame's commercial profile bar and business line reveals average purchase price variations for the AFV Vicenza steel mill in Italy and French LME mills each month. In October, the company recorded an extraordinary increase of 306% from the price it paid for electrodes in October 2017. On a year-on-year basis, the company reported an increase of 297% in September and 295% in August.
The steelmaker's French and Italian plants also spent 23.8% more annually on ferroalloys in October, and the cost of refractory materials rose by 20.8%. September saw a 27.9% year-on-year hike for ferroalloys and the cost of refractory materials rose by 20.8%. In August, ferroalloy costs rose by 29.4% year-on-year, while prices for refractory materials rose by 21.7%.
In October, the Beltrame SG plant in Switzerland achieved a graphite electrode production cost increase of over 260% compared to October 2017, while September saw a year-on-year increase of 347%. Ferroalloy costs for the Italian steelmaker's rebar division increased by 13.4% in October, while refractory material prices rose by 13.4%.