Over the past week, domestic and import coated and cold-rolled steel prices in the European Union have remained under pressure of the continuously unfavorable situation in the hot-rolled coil (HRC) segment. As a result, some of the suppliers to the domestic market have preferred to provide discounts over fortnight, while the import hot dip galvanized (HDG) and cold-rolled coil (CRC) prices have also mainly softened. Noteworthy, there has been interest in the import CRC in the EU due to a wide gap with the domestic prices, while in HDG segment the pressure from the import side is less and more attention is given to the local origins. However, the overall demand for the mentioned products in the EU remains sluggish.
This week, the domestic tradable CRC prices across the EU have settled at €740-760/mt ex-works, €20/mt down from the upper end over the week. In Italy, the official offers are standing at €750/mt ex-works versus €740/mt ex-works workable. In the northern part of the EU the official indications have dropped by €30-40/mt over two weeks €750-760/mt ex-works, while the tradable level is close to the one in Italy - €740-750/mt ex-works.
In the import CRC segment, Taiwan and India have been offering at around €685/mt CFR, while the offers from South Korea, Japan and Turkey have been reported at around €690-695/mt CFR. Overall, the import indications, according to sources, have slid by around €5-10/mt depending on the supplier. Moreover, some of the transactions have been reported at slightly lower levels, mainly from Asia, - at €680-690/mt CFR EU.
In HDG segment, taking into account a lower pressure coming from imports as compared to CRC, the domestic workable prices in Europe have softened only by €10/mt from the upper end to €760-770/mt ex-works. The range is valid for the workable range in the northern part versus €10/mt higher official offers. In Italy, the offers have settled at €770/mt ex-works while the tradable levels are at €760/mt ex-works.