While the business operations in the European hot-rolled coil (HRC) market have been gradually slowing down ahead of the holidays, the key local producer has decided to push its domestic prices across the EU up by €50/mt. Moreover, some of the sources do not exclude a further €20-30/mt hike to be seen early next week. The workable HRC prices have also increased in Europe, although for remaining lower than the mills’ official targets. In the import segment ex-Asia offers have also increased, partly spurred by the positive sentiment in China, though the effect might be temporary. Some of the foreign suppliers have decided to step back from the active HRC offering to the EU.
In the local EU market, ArcelorMittal announced its new target for HRC at €680/mt ex-works, €50/mt up from the previous official levels. The tradable values have also moved up by €20/mt from the lower end to €630-650/mt ex-works across the EU, although, according to some sources, a €620/mt ex-works level might be still workable in Italy. However, starting from next week the mills are expected to target no less than €650/mt ex-works, SteelOrbis understands.
In the import segment, the ex-Asia offers have moved up significantly from some of the suppliers, while some of them chose to withdraw offers for now. According to sources, the ex-Indonesia offers stood at €640-645/mt CFR Italy and €660/mt CFR Spain early this week, while Vietnam and Taiwan were said to be in the market with €650-660/mt CFR Italy and €660-665/mt CFR Spain. An offer from one of the Indian mills to Spain has been also reported at €675/mt CFR Spain. In addition, Turkey has been reportedly offering €655/mt CFR duty paid to the southern part of the EU, most probably from the HRC, made from cheap Russian steel slabs.
As a result, the import HRC tags have moved up by around €30-40/mt over the week, mainly due to the positive expectations on China and maybe better price situation in the Asian markets. “Sure for now ex-Asia prices [to the EU] are not workable but the market needs to settle. For sure they would avoid aggressive offering for now,” a trader told SteelOrbis. Generally, no significant trade movements are expected in the EU ahead of the holidays.