Hot rolled coil (HRC) prices are rising rapidly in the EU market, due to the strong shortage of material and a mad race to restock. "Although the economic situation is weakened by the Covid-19 pandemic, the steel market looks almost like that of 2006," commented one distributor. In less than a week, workable transaction prices have increased by an average of €45/mt, reaching €660-680/mt ex-works in Italy and €680-690/mt in northern Europe. Last week, as reported by SteelOrbis, ArcelorMittal raised its offers to €700/mt for the entire region, and other producers followed. According to one source, the current trend should continue after the holidays due to the "almost total recovery of order volumes by user sectors such as the automotive industry" and the "almost absolute lack of imports", to the point that "the theme of the first quarter could be the revision of the contracts that were already closed."
Speaking of imports, one trader told SteelOrbis that ex-India HRC offers reached €685/mt CFR southern Europe for April shipments. Meanwhile, European buyers have no interest in ex-Turkey offers due to the news that the European Commission intends to impose antidumping duties on imports from the country in mid-January.