European producers have continued to hike their prices, with movements in the flat rolled market beginning to accelerate.
While HRC prices in the local Italian market were at €490/mt ($726/mt) for most of January, prices showed an increase last week. Local sales prices of HRC in the Italian market are currently at €540/mt ($800/mt) free-on-truck. Marcegaglia increased its prices by €30/mt ($44/mt) last week. It seems that Italian mills will continue to hike their prices. The offers given for CRC in Italy and Spain are at €610/mt ($904/mt) CFR southern Europe ports. The quantity of goods present at Italian and Spanish ports is lower than the level of six months ago. The increases in the local markets may cause buyers to focus on import materials. However, the fact that the prices of import materials are not accepted widely is currently causing buyers in the Italian market, where demand has revived, to buy materials from local mills. Similarly, the decline in the quantity of goods present at Spanish ports is expected to increase imports. It seems certain that this trend will only be triggered by local demand.
The revival in galvanized materials is greater than the revival observed in other flat products. Moreover, the fact that the prices of plates hover at €690-700/mt ($1,023-1,038/mt) ex-works and that these levels are expected to increase may boost purchases of import materials.
Ukrainian origin hot rolled coils and cold rolled coils are being offered to southern Europe at $665/mt and $735/mt CPT Ukrainian port for March delivery, respectively. On the other hand, Ukrainian origin hot rolled coils and cold rolled coils are being offered at $700/mt DAF Poland and at $765/mt DAF Poland, respectively, also for March delivery. Meanwhile, offers for Bulgaria and Romania are at $680/mt CPT Ukrainian port and $755/mt CPT Ukrainian port for HRC and CRC, respectively.
It is heard that there are offers given from China to Europe. The offers given from this region are not acceptable due to the export taxes. Moreover, the export offers ex-China are expected to increase after China's Lunar New Year holiday.
In Iran, both local and export prices are on the rise. Iranian origin hot rolled coils are being offered to Europe at €520/mt ($771/mt) FOB Bandar Abbas for March shipment. It is currently difficult for the European buyers to accept this price level.
US origin hot rolled coils are being offered to Europe at €560-570/mt ($830-845/mt) CFR Antwerp for March/April shipments. However, since these prices are high, they have not been accepted in the market yet.
Consequently, prices in Europe are rising; however, export offers given by non-European countries are high.