Following the sharp rise in local hot rolled coil (HRC) prices announced by European mills this week, cold rolled coil (CRC) and hot dip galvanized (HDG) producers in Europe have also been aiming to increase their product prices, as expected. However, as also expected, the reaction of most European flats steel buyers has been rather sceptical, while trade has remained moderate, affected by tough competition from stockists and service centres in the region as both have been struggling to reduce inventories for December, while end-user demand has been lacking strength.
New offers for CRC have been voiced by European mills at €750-780/mt ex-works, up by at least €30/mt over the past week, with the lower end of the range corresponding to offers in Italy and with the higher end in northern Europe. However, the tradable price level in the region has been estimated at a maximum €720/mt ex-works, up by €20/mt week on week. “This is a sharp rise and customers are obviously not ready for it. Some still expect to deal at €700/mt ex-works,” a market insider told SteelOrbis.
Meanwhile, in the import segment, ex-Asia CRC offers have rolled back to the levels of two weeks ago, to €670-685/mt CFR, down by €10/mt week on week. In particular, offers for ex-Taiwan CRC have been voiced at €670/mt CFR for January delivery, down by €10-15/mt over the past week, while offers for ex-Japan have been heard at €675-680/mt CFR, versus €680-690/mt CFR last week. Meanwhile, suppliers from South Korean who were offering their materials at €690-695/mt CFR have refrained from giving new offers this week.
At the same time, while tradable local prices for HDG have increased to €720-740/mt ex-works, against €710-725/mt ex-works last week, offers at €770/mt ex-works have been heard from Italian mills, and at €800/mt ex-works from producers in the north of Europe. Thus, mills’ offers have gained €30/mt over the past week. Meanwhile, import HDG offers have been estimated at €780-800/mt CFR, the same as last week, with the most active negotiations heard for ex-Vietnam HDG Z100-120 at €780/mt CFR for January shipment.