Although negative factors have been present for months and are depressing the outlook for the flats markets, many retailers and the sole producer in Romania have chosen to keep their flat steel price positions stable. According to market players, the causes of the business downturn are mainly owing to bank interest policies and the recession in the construction industry. As a result, consumption volumes have been shrinking and the situation no longer a short-term issue but instead has become a long-term one.
“Our previous low demand evaluation currently indicates a normal level of demand. If we look at increasing interest rates which are harming a lot of the growth, especially in the construction sector, we can see that the number of homes bought in Romania almost halved from December to January because credit is becoming more and more expensive,” a representative of the sole domestic producer indicated to SteelOrbis.
Currently, in the local market in Romania, domestic origin hot rolled coil (HRC) and cold rolled coil (CRC) prices are stable at €695-700/mt ex-works and €820-825/mt ex-works, respectively.
Similarly, in the retail market, traders’ prices for hot rolled sheets (HRS) and cold rolled sheets (CRS) are stable from last week at €820-850/mt ex-warehouse and €1,000-1,070/mt ex-warehouse, respectively.
In the coated steel segment, domestic market offers for HDG and PPGI have remained stable week on week at €990/mt ex-works and €1,125-1,170/mt ex-works, respectively.
Meanwhile, according to sources, in the HRC and PPGI import segment, there were offers from Serbia and Italy reported at €780/mt DAP and €1,180-1,190/mt DAP, respectively.
