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

Italy produces approximately 50% of the machinery used to produce footwear and leather goods around the world and 80% of tanning machinery globally, according to Assomac, an association that represents Italian manufacturers of machines for footwear, leather and tannery industries. Many of the manufacturers are small, with the entire industry employing approximately 6,200 people in Italy. There are three basic tanning centers in Italy, says Peter Helfer, a managing partner at Campex LLC, an Exeter, N.H., a company that sells Italian leather-making machinery in North America. Whole hides and