Antonio Marcegaglia, the chief executive of Italian Marcegaglia predicted that hot rolled coil (HRC) price should climb up by €20-€30/ton. He analyzed that this was mainly because Japan has been recovering from the disaster and China has been developing its housing plan.

Also, the prices of tubes and other final steel products would hopefully outpace an expected increase in raw material prices, he added without giving more precise forecasts.

Besides, Marcegaglia predicted that overall steel demands in Italy and the rest of Europe have been driven mainly by mechanical engineering, machinery and equipment as well as automotive industries.

Europe's car market has started recovering after the Japanese component crisis of March earthquake. Car production in Europe was expected to rise 5% this year and 2.5% in 2012 to drive steel demand, according to Arthur Mahler,J D Automotive's head of European.