This week, HRC producers in northern Europe and Italy have been pushing sales with notable discounts on larger volumes to bridge order book gaps. As a result, workable domestic prices for HRC in the region have lost up to €30/mt over the past week. At the same time, while EU buyers continue to face challenges in the import market due to trade measures, the availability of lower-priced imports has added some pressure on domestic prices. Thus, several deals have been signed for ex-Turkey and ex-Indonesia HRC with additional discounts.
Specifically, most local HRC prices from mills in northern Europe, mainly for August deliveries, have been voiced at €560-570/mt ex-works down by €10-30/mt week on week, while tradable prices in northern Europe have also declined further this week, by around €10-30/mt week on week to €550/mt ex-works. “Downward momentum in the HRC market is expected to persist into the summer. We have already heard bids at €530/mt ex-works, compared to €545/mt ex-works last week,” a market insider told SteelOrbis.
Meanwhile, in Italy, most offers from mills, including those from leading producer ArcelorMittal, have dropped to €540-550/mt ex-works for August delivery, from €560-570/mt ex-works last week. At the same time, workable prices have dropped as well, falling to €530-540/mt ex-works levels, down by €10/mt week on week, but, according to sources, offers for bigger tonnages have already been voiced at €515-530/mt ex-works levels.
In the meantime, most offers for import HRC in southern Europe have been voiced at €460-520/mt CFR, depending on the supplier, down by €10/mt week on week. HRC offers from one of the Indonesian mills have been reported at the lower end of the range or around €460/mt CFR, with a deal for around 30,000 mt reported to have been signed in Italy at this level at the end of last week. Meanwhile, most bids from European customers for ex-Indonesia material have been reported at €440-450/mt CFR southern Europe.
Besides, offers from India have been reported at $590-600/mt CFR, which translates to around €500-508/mt CFR, down by €10/mt on the lower end of the range week on week. According to sources, a deal for around 10,000 mt of ex-India HRC has been signed at $600/mt CFR Antwerp this week.
Meanwhile, offers for ex-Turkey HRC have varied depending on the source, with most official offers quoted at €500-520/mt CFR, duty included, compared to €515–530/mt CFR last week. However, according to market insiders, Turkish suppliers have managed to sell sizable volumes of HRC into Europe over the past two weeks—around 60,000 mt in total—at €485–495/mt CFR, duty paid, while the current buyers’ price idea has settled at €475/mt CFR.
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