General unhappiness in most EU markets since holidays
Most European markets have started the new year pretty slow which added on to the already accumulating worries of the market players. The fourth quarter of last year has been a quite bad one, particularly for the tube and pipe makers and the service centers mainly in Southern Europe. Their sales were down by an incredible 20% on average which is followed by a further drop in January. Arcelor, the leading European steel maker, has been trying to find ways to keep its prices increasing. As reported earlier by SteelOrbis, it has decided to change the extra list which means a price increase of around €10/mt for its customers on average. Thyssen Krupp Stahl has not been offering much quantity into Southern Europe from its plants in Germany. Limited quantity is made available to automotive and white household goods customers primarily through TKS service centers. SteelOrbis also understood the TKS service center in Italy could be sold anytime, following huge losses recorded during the last four months. Giant Italian steel makers RIVA Group, has been facing serious problems with the coke batteries at the Taranto works, and the casters in Genova works. As they have lost considerable quantity, finally their management has decided to cover a portion of its slab needs from Lucchini's Piombino plant. SteelOrbis understands, Riva Group could get as much as 1'000'000 mt of slabs from Lucchini's Piombino plant over the next 4 years. Lucchini is not expected to lose any quantity in finished products; i.e. wire rods, as they are going to be utilizing their excess capacity. However this will come as no good news to slab buyers in the market. The Greek steel maker Halivourgiki has been reportedly consuming its slab stocks, as they refuse to buy anything from international market at the prevailing prices. One of the most critical issues in EU steel market nowadays is the anti dumping measures proposed against hot rolled coil imports from certain countries. There has been several discussions between the EU commission and the mills on price undertaking agreements, and a lot of pressure from Eurofer. Situation will be clarified within a week's time. Looking at what else has been happening on the import side, we see South American mills having started offering some material into EU market. Main items offered by early February were plates and hot dipped galvanized coils. On the other hand, according to market players the US and Canadian mills have booked more than 100'000 mt of hot rolled coils with EU customers. As reported by SteelOrbis, Marcegaglia was leading the way and reportedly bought minimum 50,000 mt alone. Balance quantity was booked by other major tube makers and service centers in Italy and Spain.