Prices of various steel items, both longs & flats, across the 3 important locations in Europe ie Germany, Italy and Spain have gone up further in Week 03 due to euro depreciation.

The euro celebrates its 16th birthday this month and like a lot of teenagers, it’s hitting some rough patches. The currency has fallen 8% against the dollar to USD 1.1586 on January 18, its weakest level in almost a decade as against USD 1.2409 a month ago on December 17.

It is heard that European Central Bank President Mr Mario Draghi is doing almost nothing to prop up the euro as a weak currency could be the region’s best shot at reviving its stagnant economy. Market analysts predict the euro will continue to lose ground against the dollar through 2015.

It is learnt that North EU Mills pushing for increases up to EUR 30 per tonne but buyers are resisting convinced that prices cannot go much up, given the present economic environment.