This week, although the range of domestic HRC tradable prices in Europe has remained mostly unchanged for mainly June deliveries, most mills are still targeting more price hikes for June and July deliveries, increasing their offers by around €20/mt week on week. According to sources, the recent increase in HRC prices, especially in northern Europe, has been primarily driven by limited import availability and reduced domestic supply, while actual demand has remained low but stable. Thus, only some buyers in urgent need of restocking have been prepared to accept the higher prices. In the import segment, business activity has remained slow, with only several bookings reported to have been signed for ex-Turkey HRC in southern Europe.
More specifically, local HRC prices from mills in Europe have increased again this week, with HRC offers for June and July deliveries from mills in northern Europe reported at €670-700/mt ex-works, up by €20-30/mt week on week, though the tradable price levels are at €640-650/mt ex-works, the same as last week.
Meanwhile, offers from Italian mills have been voiced at €650-670/mt ex-works for June delivery, up by €20/mt week on week. However, workable prices have been reported at €620-630/mt ex-works, mainly the same as last week.
At the same time, according to sources, mills in the south have been targeting €680-700/mt delivered for June delivery HRC, though most market insiders do not believe this level can be workable given no signs of any significant demand recovery in the region.
In the meantime, import HRC offer prices have remained relatively stable standing at €560-610/mt CFR, mainly the same as last week. Notably, according to sources, in the past week several deals for ex-Turkey HRC are reported to have been signed at $650/mt CFR Italy, duty included, which translates to around €585/mt CFR, and at $665-670/mt CFR Spain, duty included, which translates to €600-605/mt CFR. However, according to a number of sources, new deal prices for ex-Turkey HRC have been estimated at already higher levels or around €585/mt CFR, excluding duty, which translates to around €615-625/mt CFR, depending on the supplier.
Besides, talk about two deals for ex-Japan HRC, for 10,000 each, signed to Spain and Antwerp at €585/mt CFR or around €625/mt CFR including seven percent antidumping duty have been circulating in the market. However, this information has not been confirmed by the time of publication. “We really don’t believe it, as the gap with domestic offers is very small,” a market insider said.
Furthermore, offers from one Indonesian HRC producer have been voiced at €560/mt CFR southern Europe, while another mill in Indonesia has been offering its coils at €585-590/mt CFR.
Offers from Taiwan and Thailand have been reported at around €580/mt CFR, though according to sources, the same materials have been offered in Spain through traders at as high as €610/mt CFR.
