European CRC and HDG prices have edged slightly higher since late December, with mills in both northern Europe and Italy still targeting elevated levels for February deliveries. Import trade has all but stalled, as most buyers prefer to avoid exposure to new bookings due to the CBAM regulations.
Specifically, in the domestic CRC market, most mills in Italy and northern Europe have continued to target €730-750/mt ex-works, the same as before the holidays. Meanwhile, the tradable prices have been estimated at €720-730/mt ex-works levels both in Italy and in northern Europe, which means prices have increased by around €10/mt over the past two weeks.
At the same time, market participants anticipate that mills will push prices higher in the near term, likely raising offers by about €10–20/mt in the next sales cycle. The expected increase is driven by tighter supply as CRC availability has been heavily dependent on imports, but more than half of the import volumes are now subject to antidumping (AD) investigations, affecting material from India, Japan, Taiwan, Turkey and Vietnam.
In the import segment, offers for CRC have settled at €620-660/mt CFR, depending on the supplier, compared to €600-620/mt CFR in late December. Offers for ex-Indonesia CRC have settled at around $750/mt CFR, which translates to around €640/mt CFR, up by €20/mt since late December. Besides, offers for ex-Thailand CRC have been voiced at €660/mt CFR southern Europe. Furthermore, more offers from traders have been reported on DDP basis, with indicative prices standing at €700-730/mt DDP this week.
In the HDG segment, domestic tradable prices both in Italy and in the north of Europe have settled at €730-735/mt ex-works, versus €710-735/mt ex-works two weeks ago, while mills have been targeting HDG offers for January delivery as high as €750/mt ex-works.
In the import segment, trade has remained limited, with offers for ex-Asia HDG Z100-120 voiced at €730-740/mt CFR, depending on the supplier, versus €700-730/mt CFR two weeks ago. Offers for ex-Vietnam 0.55 mm Z100 HDG have been voiced at €740/mt CFR.
$1 = €0.86