While offers for cold rolled coil (CRC) have been reported at slightly lower levels in new offers among European sellers, tradable prices for European hot dip galvanized (HDG) coils have been maintained relatively unchanged, with still extremely limited trade activity reported in the region as demand has remained weak, with EU buyers lacking confidence to conclude new bookings.
Specifically, in the domestic CRC market in the EU, tradable prices have dropped to €720-750/mt ex-works, down by €10-20/mt week on week, with the lower end of the range corresponding to offers in Italy at €720-730/mt ex-works, and with the higher end corresponding to offers at €730-750/mt ex-works in northern Europe.
Meanwhile, import prices for CRC in southern Europe have been voiced at €680-690/mt CFR, the same as last week, with a deal for ex-Japan CRC reported to have been signed at €675-685/mt CFR at the end of last week-beginning of this week. As for import offers for CRC in northern Europe, most prices have been voiced at €680-695/mt CFR, down by €5/mt on the higher end of the range week on week.
“Local producers are under pressure from weak demand, while competitive imports only make things worse,” a market insider told SteelOrbis, adding, “Although the import CRC trade has also been rather slow, it is still better than in the case of the HRC segment, as there are no safeguard-related issues for CRC.”
After some increase in local HDG prices last week, tradable local prices for HDG have been maintained in the range of €750-760/mt ex-works, with expectations of some demand recovery in the region having failed to come true so far. In the meantime, import offers for HDG in southern Europe have been voiced at €750-780/mt CFR, down by €20-30/mt week on week, with the lower end of the range corresponding to ex-Taiwan and ex-Vietnam offers. Meanwhile, offers for imported HDG in northern Europe have been estimated at €780-790/mt CFR, versus €785-800/mt CFR last week.