Despite no signs of a tangible demand recovery, this week European HRC producers have continued to maintain their prices for local customers stable at high levels, refusing to provide any additional discounts. In the import segment, pressure from most foreign suppliers has eased to some extent as slightly lower prices have been reported in the market this week mainly due to a weakening of the euro against the US dollar.
More specifically, in the local EU market, official offers from mills in northern Europe have been reported at €660/mt ex-works, the same as last week, while the tradable prices have remained at €630-640/mt ex-works.
Meanwhile, although Italian mills have been aiming for a price of €670/mt delivered, which translates to around €655-660/mt ex-works, the same as last week, the workable prices have been reported at €630-640/mt ex-works levels. “Business activity has been extremely weak this week, as most sellers prefer to sell nothing but not to decrease the price,” a market insider said.
In the import segment, most offers from foreign suppliers have remained relatively stable this week, though some offers have been reported at lower levels given that the euro has been showing a weakening trend against the US dollar. “Asian suppliers were trying to push prices up but will likely rollover prices from last month, so now their offers are at around $570/mt FOB, with a freight rate at around $60-80/mt depending on the loading port and the number and locations of discharge ports,” an international trader told SteelOrbis. More specifically, most offers for ex-Asia HRC have been estimated at €600-620/mt CFR, compared to €600-630/mt CFR last week. Suppliers from India, Japan and Taiwan have been offering their materials at around €620/mt CFR southern Europe, and at around €615-630/mt CFR Antwerp, though no deals have been reported so far since, according to sources, buyers’ bids at €595/mt CFR have been rejected so far.
Meanwhile, offers for ex-Turkey HRC have been voiced at €615/mt CFR, including duty, as compared to deal prices at €610-620/mt CFR last week.
