European mills which have been testing the market with higher prices during the past weeks given their high production costs due to rises in energy costs, have been failing to attract buyers. Thus, although most mills have been officially offering their hot rolled coils (HRC) at the same level as last week, the tradable price level has dropped in the EU market, on the back of slack demand and competitive imports.
More specifically, official HRC prices from mills have remained unchanged over the past week, standing at €780-850/mt ex-works, with €780-800/mt ex-works offers coming from producers in Italy and at €800-850/mt ex-works officially offered in northern Europe. However, workable prices have been reported at €760-765/mt ex-works in Italy, while a tradable level for HRC in northern Europe is estimated at €750-770/mt ex-works, with some transactions for small volumes reported within that range in Germany.
In the meantime, the interest of European buyers in import offers, especially in southern Europe, has increased as they appear to be sufficiently competitive currently. Besides, according to market sources, most buyers are increasingly looking to January delivery import material to satisfy purchasing requirements for next year. Import offers have been reported at €700-730/mt CFR southern Europe, compared to €720-740/mt CFR last week. According to sources, a small deal for ex-South Korea HRC was signed at €700/mt CFR Italy at the end of last week, while new ex-Korea offers have been coming at €715-720/mt CFR this week. Besides, a deal for 6,000/mt of ex-Taiwan HRC has been reported at $620/mt FOB, while translated to around €700/mt CFR or slightly below. “We actually heard Taiwan sold around 50,000/mt of HRC to Europe, but we cannot confirm this volume so far,” a market insider told SteelOrbis.
Apart from deals with Asian suppliers, market insiders have reported about a batch for 9,000/mt sold by an Egyptian producer at €730/mt CFR Spain this week. Furthermore, offers for ex-Turkey HRC from mills have been reported at €750-760/mt CFR southern Europe, including duty, while some offers have been even heard at €795/mt CFR, which is considered as overpriced by European buyers, who have also reported about some offers through Turkish traders at €720-730/mt CFR, including duty. Meanwhile, offers for ex-India boron added coils have settled at around €710/mt CFR, same as last week, with no deals have been reported so far.