According to market sources, following the decision of the European Commission (EC) not to impose any provisional antidumping duties on HRC imports from Brazil, Iran, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine, flat steel demand has decreased further in the European market. The EC will announce its final decision in the antidumping investigation on October 7. Accordingly, market sources expect that, up to mid-August, Russian, Ukrainian and Iranian HRC suppliers will increase their sales to the EU. Meanwhile, European buyers have adopted a wait-and-see stance and are expected to continue to do so until late April, given their high levels of inventories. On the other hand, import offers will likely put pressure on domestic mills, though market sources state that producers are expected to resist this pressure and to keep their prices unchanged. Accordingly, transactions are very scarce and are limited to small volumes. Some sources believe that after the Easter holiday HRC prices could decline in the EU market, given the softening of global HRC prices in line with the return of Chinese players to the export markets.
Currently, Italian producers’ transaction prices stand at the range of €510-525/mt ($541-565/mt) ex-works for hot rolled coil (HRC), at €610-640/mt ($647-678/mt) ex-works for cold rolled coil (CRC) and at €650-680/mt ($689-721/mt) ex-works for hot dip galvanized (HDG) coil.
Meanwhile, European producers’ flat rolled steel offers remained unchanged, standing at €520-570/mt ($551-604/mt) for HRC, €640-700/mt ($678-742/mt) for CRC, and €640-700/mt ($678-742/mt) for HDG, all ex-works.
€1 = $1.06