Although sentiments have been rather positive in the EU hot rolled coil (HRC) market, the range of domestic offer prices for mainly June delivery materials has mostly remained unchanged in Italy and has showed a slight increase in northern Europe, though the tradable level has been at the same level. At the same time, import HRC prices have been fluctuating this week, with no clear trend observed in the market, as some suppliers have maintained their high offers, while other have decided to provide discounts in new deals.
More specifically, HRC offers prices in the EU for June deliveries have been voiced at €830-870/mt ex-works this week, with Italian mills still offering at €830-850/mt ex-works, the same as last week, while the tradable level has settled at €820/mt ex-works. “Last week, there were still offers for May delivery coils at €800-820/mt ex-works, while this week almost everyone has been offering for June,” a market insider said. Besides, according to sources, trade activity has remained limited this week, while the market has remained very cautious. “The problem at ArcelorMittal Spain comes at the same time as new BFs are going to be switched on, so we do not see a big effect,” another market insider said. In particular, as SteelOrbis reported earlier, on Wednesday, March 22, during a shutdown process, ArcelorMittal’s blast furnace A at its Asturias plant in Spain was halted after a fire broke out.
Meanwhile, in northern Europe, domestic HRC prices have been heard at €860-870/mt ex-works for deliveries in June, up by €10/mt week on week, though the workable level has remained at around €850/mt ex-works. Business activity has been rather slow as well, with some deals reported mainly for short lead terms.
However, the import HRC segment in southern Europe has been lacking clarity this week, as, while Asian suppliers, like those from Japan and South Korea, have kept their offers high at €790-800/mt CFR, and those from Vietnam at around €770/mt CFR, some other exporters have decided to concede on price to sign new deals. Thus, several deals for ex-India HRC have been reported in Spain at around $830/mt CFR, which translated to around €760-765/mt CFR, while ex-India offers have been reported at around $840/mt CFR, or around €770-775/mt CFR, versus €770-780/mt CFR last week. Furthermore, according to sources, at the beginning of this week, an eastern India-based mill reported a deal for 30,000 mt for delivery to Antwerp at $760-770/mt FOB, which translates to around $820-830/mt CFR, or €755-765/mt CFR. Besides, another deal from a Maharashtra-based integrated mill was reported for 20,000 mt at around $770/mt FOB (€760-765/mt CFR) to Rotterdam.
At the same time, according to market insiders, suppliers from Egypt have managed to sell several lots of HRC to southern Europe at around $825-835/mt CFR this week, while offers for ex-Egypt materials were heard at as high as $850-860/mt CFR last week. “Ex-Egypt deals have been done in direct transactions with the mill and with LC at sight,” a Spanish trader said.