The situation in the European cold rolled coil (CRC) and hot dip galvanized (HDG) markets has remained broadly stable in past weeks. Although local mills have been trying to increase their offers given their production costs, tradable prices have remained stable at low levels due to weak demand and the lack of signs of any significant improvement in the hot rolled coil (HRC) segment. Meanwhile, in the import segment, most offers for both CRC and HDG have kept showing a slight upward trend, though trade activity has remained limited as most European buyers have high stock levels, resulting in a minimal necessity to buy in new material.
In the domestic CRC market in the EU, most producers are offering at €660-670/mt ex-works, with the lower end of the range corresponding to offers in Italy and with the higher end corresponding to offers in the north, mainly the same as last week, though, according to sources, while mills have been targeting higher offers for January deliveries, customers have kept insisting on discounts. Thus, the tradable price level in northern Europe has been estimated at €650-660/mt ex-works, while tradable prices in southern Europe have settled at €650/mt ex-works.
Meanwhile, import prices for CRC in southern Europe have been voiced at €645-665/mt CFR, up by €20/mt week on week, mostly for ex-Asia materials. In particular, offers for ex-Japan CRC have been heard at €645/mt CFR southern Europe. Besides, offers for ex-South Korea CRC have been reported at around €650-655/mt CFR. Suppliers from Taiwan have been offering their material at around €665/mt CFR, while offers for ex-India CRC have settled at €645-660/mt CFR, according to sources. Offers from Turkey have been voiced at €675-690/mt CFR.
In the meantime, local prices for HDG have been estimated at €670-690/mt ex-works from mills in southern and northern Europe, though the tradable prices have been voiced at around €660-670/mt ex-works in Italy and at €670-680/mt ex-works in the north. “Mills have been targeting €700/mt ex-works and above for delivery in January, though most buyers are unlikely to accept this level for the moment,” a market insider said. At the same time, most import offers for HDG, mainly for Z100, have settled at €720-755/mt CFR southern Europe, with offers for ex-Vietnam Z100 HDG coming at €720/mt CFR, while offers from Taiwan have been reported at €730-740/mt CFR. Offers for imported HDG from Turkey have been estimated at €755/mt CFR, according to sources.