Scrap prices are breaking through new barriers and semis prices are soaring...The question as to what extent the prices in question will soar is currently distressing the minds of market players. On the one hand, buyers are considering whether or not to purchase materials to meet their requirements, and, on the other hand, they are thinking of concluding bookings for fear that prices will indicate further rises. The producers are hiking prices and concluding sales for summer shipments at the same time. Meanwhile, end-users are both experiencing shortages of material and feeling anxious about the price levels.
While Libyan HRC offers for Italy stood at the level of €570/mt CFR Italy last week, the same offers were raised to €640/mt CFR Italy this week. Meanwhile, Chinese HRC offers for Italy stand at the level of €625/mt CFR Italy. The shortage of supplies in the Italian domestic market, in particular for thin specifications of HRC, is still being observed. With the continuous price hike in import materials, due to demand from the steel service centers and end-users that have been obtaining material from the domestic mills since January, Italian producer Ilva has mostly been booking orders for the domestic market for June shipments; however, not many prices are currently being mentioned.
We hear that the prices of the Egyptian mills are also rising on a daily basis. It is heard that these mills' HRC offers, which stood at the level of $800/mt FOB last month, were raised to the level of $885/mt FOB at the beginning of the current week and to the level of $900/mt FOB towards the end of the week. While Taiwanese-origin HRC of 1.2 mm thickness were being offered at the level of $910/mt CFR Jeddah in recent weeks, the same materials are this week being offered at $1,000/mt CFR.
Some of the Indian mills are expected to give price offers for May shipments from now on. It is estimated that the prices of the Indian mills, whose latest offers were in a range of $820-850/mt FOB, will soar as well. As regards the new prices, they are expected to be announced in the coming week.
Next week, Ukrainian and Russian origin offers will start to be heard. There are expectations that the offers of the Russian and Ukrainian producers will hover at higher levels.
In this current year, when international iron ore prices have soared by 65 percent and coke prices by 50 percent, the rise in flats prices looks set to continue.