The situation has remained broadly stable in the European HRC market in the past week. Despite trading activities remaining limited, local mills are bullish due to high costs, logistics issues, expectations of restocking activities, and an expected increase in exports to the US after the decision to replace US Section 232 tariffs on European steel imports with a tariff-rate quota. This would partially compensate for the lack of demand from the automotive industry. Meanwhile, some sources suggested the shortage of semiconductors may be eased next year, at least partially, leading to an increase in demand from the automotive sector.
As for prices, the range of achievable levels in the spot market has remained wide as mills are offering their December output at lower prices, while offers for the first quarter of 2022 are higher. €860-920/mt ex-works is the price range in the Italian market, while €960-1.030/mt is the most common range in northern Europe, all ex-works. In both cases, the lower half of the range concerns December output volumes, as the lack of automotive demand leads to increased availability of spot volumes. Compared to November 12, the range of HRC transaction prices in Europe declined by €15/mt on average.
Meanwhile, EU buyers' interest in import offers has remained very weak due to long delivery times and the risk of paying duties on volumes exceeding the EU safeguard quotas.