European mills, which have been targeting price increases during the past month, have been failing to attract buyers given extremely weak trade during the traditional slow summer season in the region. Thus, although most producers have been officially offering their HRC at the same level as last week, the tradable price level has dropped in the EU market. In the import segment, however, most offers have remained stable though more discounted offers for ex-Asia materials have started to appear in the region.
More specifically, official HRC offers from mills have remained unchanged over the past week, standing at €670-700/mt ex-works, with the lower end of the range corresponding to Italian mills’ offers and with the higher end from mills in northern Europe. However, workable prices have been reported at $635-650/mt ex-works in Italy, versus €650/mt ex-works last week. “We have actually heard even lower levels at €630-640 ex-works, and also for material available at ports at €630/mt DAT, but officially there is no decline from mills,” a market insider told SteelOrbis. “The recent drop in HRC prices could also be very speculative, as, on the other hand, people say ArcelorMittal aims to increase its HRC offers by €30/mt in the next round, which does not make any sense, but still it’s the reality,” another source said. Meanwhile, tradable prices for HRC in northern Europe have been estimated at €660-670/mt ex-works, versus €680/mt ex-works last week. “Several large mills in the north have reported full order books for October, so they stopped offering,” a local trader said.
As for the import segment, although most foreign suppliers have been trying to sustain their offers at €610-620/mt CFR, lower offers at €590-600/mt CFR have been reported for ex-Asia HRC in Italy this week, while ex-Egypt HRC has been still offered directly from a mill at as high as €645/mt CFR Spain.
Ex-Japan HRC offers have been reported at €600-610/mt CFR Italy and around €620/mt CFR in Spain this week, down by €10/mt week on week. Meanwhile, offers for ex-Vietnam and ex-Taiwan HRC have been offered via traders at €615/mt CFR, the same as last week. According to sources, trade has been minimal this week, with only a rumour of 8,000 mt ex-India HRC sold for delivery to Italy at around $665-670/mt CFR, or €595-600/mt CFR, the same as last week.
At the same time, at least two ex-India HRC deals aggregating 30,000 mt for delivery to Antwerp have been heard in the range of $675-680/mt CFR, or around €604-608/mt CFR, against similar deals reported at $670-675/mt CFR a week ago. Other offers for HRC in northern Europe have been heard at around €610-630/mt CFR, down by €10-20/mt week on week.
$1 = €0.89