This week, offers for cold rolled (CRC) and hot dip galvanized (HDG) coils have decreased in Europe once again following the continuous declines heard for hot rolled coils (HRC) prices, coupled with the mainly pessimistic expectations of most European buyers given weak demand and tight competition with imports.
More specifically, European mills have decreased their offers for CRC by around €15-20/mt over the past week to €825-850/mt ex-works for April delivery, with the lower end of the range corresponding to offers from Italian mills at €825-830/mt, while offers from mills in northern Europe have been heard at €840-850/mt, both ex-works. At the same time, according to sources, the tradable prices for CRC in Italy have settled at as low as €810/mt ex-works, while in the north they stand at €820/mt ex-works, which means the workable prices have lost €20-30/mt week on week.
Meanwhile, import offers for CRC have been voiced at €730-750/mt CFR, down by €10/mt week on week on the lower end of range. Offers for ex-India and ex-Vietnam CRC have settled at €750/mt CFR, while prices for ex-South Korea CRC have been heard at €720-740/mt CFR, depending on the destination, down by €10/mt over the past week. Suppliers from Japan have been offering their materials at €730-735/mt CFR Italy, while offers from Taiwan have been at €740-750/mt CFR.
At the same time, tradable local prices for HDG both in Italy and northern Europe have been estimated at €840-850/mt ex-works, down by €20/mt week on week. Furthermore, offers from Italian mills have dropped by €10-30/mt week on week to €840-860/mt ex-works for April delivery, while offers from northern European mills have been estimated at €860-870/mt ex-works, against €880-900/mt ex-works last week. According to sources, more demand has been seen for local HDG rather than for CRC, as the pressure from imports in weaker.
Specifically, in the import segment, most ex-Asia offers for Z100-120 HDG have been heard at €810-835/mt CFR, with the lower end of the range corresponding to ex-Vietnam offers, down by €5-10/mt week on week, while the higher end corresponds to offers from India. Besides, offers for ex-Turkey HDG have been also reported at around €850/mt CFR, according to sources.
