EU HRC market slows down ahead of holidays, lower import offers fail to attract buyers

The EU hot rolled coil (HRC) market has slowed down even more this week given the start of the summer period which is characterized by plant stoppages and maintenance works. As a result, trading activities have been very quiet in the past week, especially in the Italian market where most players will resume their activities only at the end of the month. Compared to late July, official offers from European steelmakers have remained unchanged, at €780-900 ex-works.

More specifically, official offers in Italy were still heard in a range of €800-820/mt ex-works, though the estimated workable level for HRC has remained at €780-800 ex-works, the same as last week. “There was talk about buyers’ bids at €750/mt ex-works, but no contracts were reported at this level,” a market insider said. Besides, official offers were rare in the northern European market as well due to the summer lull, and, while some offers from integrated mills have still been reported at as high as €900/mt ex-works, the tradable level has remained at €850-860/mt ex-works in the region.

Meanwhile, import prices in southern Europe have maintained their downward trend, while sentiments have remained largely negative given the anticipated demand drop in August. In particular, import HRC offers have been reported at €680-715/mt CFR, compared to €700-730/mt CFR last week, with the lower end of the range corresponding to ex-Asia and ex-India offers in the Italian market and with the higher end of the range corresponding to offers from Turkey.

In particular, offers from India have been reported at €685-700/mt CFR Italy, compared to €700/mt CFR last week. Offers from Asian suppliers, like those from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam have been reported at around €680-690/mt CFR, down by around €30-40/mt week on week. “Last week, there were still some ex-Japan offers at €715/mt CFR Italy and €730/mt CFR Spain, but this week €690/mt CFR is the highest offer level,” an international trader told SteelOrbis. Furthermore, offers from Turkey have been reported at €700-715/mt CFR southern Europe, duty paid, though, according to some market insiders, offers at $710-720/mt CFR (around €695-705/mt CFR) have also been heard in Italy this week.

Import HRC offers, CFR southern Europe