This week, hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices globally have mainly indicated a decline, including in offers and deals from the CIS and in the European market. Turkey has managed to maintain domestic levels, mainly owing to the limited competition in the import segment. In Asia, despite the slight increase in China, the overall market sentiment has remained bearish, once again not providing support for the global market mood.
- A slight increase of RMB 40/mt ($6/mt) has been reported in the local Chinese HRC market this week, which resulted in a gradual hike in export asking prices. Large mills have been offering SS400 coils at $800-820/mt FOB, though the tradable level has still hardly been above $780/mt FOB. Deals have been rare as most customers have not been sure that the uptrend will prevail in the market and most Asian customers have been expecting stable or lower prices in the near future. A deal for SAE1006 HRC for February shipment has been done at $780/mt FOB to Vietnam.
- In Vietnam, the market mood remains mainly bearish with only rare deals done, from China specifically. Although the contract prices have indicated a slight rise, they are still considered the lowest in the market and far below the latest domestic levels. Buyers expect local producers to update their offers shortly before they decided to keep on restocking in the import segment. The latest booking from China was closed at $815/mt CFR, but nowadays import talks are on hold as local prices in Vietnam may drop soon, and import bids might soften further.
CIS-based mills have been in the market to sell for January production this week. Moreover, some sales have been closed, to Turkey in particular, while some of the mills have announced they are even ready to offer for February production. Russia’s MMK states it is sold out for January with only 50,000 mt to be shipped, while NLMK has traded some lots this week at around 825-830/mt FOB. Ukraine-based Metinvest has traded 30,000 mt for January production this week at around $790-810/mt FOB depending on the coil weight. Russia’s Severstal has managed to stick to its last week’s prices at $910-950/mt FOB Baltic Sea with around 20,000-30,000 mt sold within the past few days.
In Turkey, local HRC prices have remained relatively stable at $870-890/mt ex-works in the official offers, while $5-10/mt discounts are also valid, buyers say. As regards exports, prices as low as $840-850/mt FOB have been heard in the market, taking into account the limited sales to the EU and the necessity to focus on close-by markets such as North Africa. In the import segment, Ukraine’s Metinvest has sold 30,000 mt of HRC to Turkey at $820-840/mt CFR, while one of the Russian mills has traded a medium lot at around $860/mt CFR.
The workable HRC price levels in the EU have declined by around €25/mt on average in the past two weeks, from the previous levels of €860-1,030/mt ex-works and are now standing at €860-910/mt ex-works in the Italian market, while €930-980/mt is the most common range in northern Europe, all ex-works. The imports have remained scarce, specifically from Turkey, taking into account the filled quota, limited domestic demand and the competitive prices, mainly coming from Asia. In addition, some large volumes are reportedly sitting at ports, waiting for customs clearance after January 1.