As expected, the price downtrend in the EU hot rolled coil (HRC) market has not yet come to a halt within the past week, as trading activity has remained muted amid slow end-user demand and sufficient stocks among distributors, with no sizable restocking activity reported so far. Meanwhile, import HRC offers have remained relatively unchanged, while the interest in import coils has remained minimal due to the narrowing gap between domestic and import prices, coupled with longer lead times for all foreign materials.
Accordingly, the general tradable price range in the EU HRC market is currently at €585-630/mt ex-works, versus €610-630/mt ex-works last week, with the lower end of the range corresponding to occasional deal prices in Italy, while the higher end corresponds to northern European price ideas. More specifically, while most offers for local HRC have been estimated at €600-610/mt ex-works in Italy this week, according to sources one of the Italian mills has accepted to sell its materials at around €585/mt ex-works. However, other mills have kept refusing to go lower than €600/mt. Furthermore, in northern Europe most customers estimate the tradable level at €600-610/mt ex-works, down by €20/mt week on week.
“Lower offers from distributors, who are trying to destock at lower prices, have been seriously affecting European mills,” a market insider told SteelOrbis.
Meanwhile, import HRC prices have been uncompetitive as compared to soaring local offers, while the delivery time of most imported materials and for ex-Asia especially have been estimated for the beginning of next year. In particular, import offers for ex-Asia HRC have been voiced at €580-615/mt CFR, versus €585-635/mt CFR last week. Offers for ex-Vietnam HRC have been heard at €580-585/mt CFR southern Europe, as compared to €585/mt CFR last week, while other Asian suppliers have been offering HRC at €600-615/mt CFR, same as last week. However, according to sources, one of the biggest Indian HRC producers have increased it offers for HRC to around €670/mt CFR Europe, which considered as completely unworkable.
“Although general interest in new HRC purchases in slow in Europe, it is still higher for local materials rather than for imports,” a Spanish trader said.