As expected, the price downtrend in the EU hot rolled coil (HRC) market has not yet come to a halt within the past week, as trading activity has remained muted amid slow end-user demand coupled with high stock levels as buyers, with no sizable restocking activity expected in the short-run. Meanwhile, new import HRC offers from all main suppliers have also kept decreasing. However, despite the competitive prices, the interest in import coils has remained minimal.
Accordingly, the general range in the EU HRC market is currently at €710-740/mt ex-works, compared to €720-750/mt reported on Monday, October 10. More specifically, achievable prices are currently in the €710-740/mt range in the Italian market, compared to €730-750/mt at the beginning to this week and down by €20-30/mt week on week. In northern Europe most customers estimate the tradable level at €700-720/mt, down by €20/mt from the higher end of the range since the beginning of this week, however, according to sources, some mills from northern Europe, Germany in particular, have been offering its materials to Italy at €700/mt CPT, which corresponds to around €650/mt ex-works.
“Some big mills in the region have been still maintaining offers at around €720-740/mt ex-works, but most bids for large quantities from service centers and pipe makers have been voiced at €680-700/mt ex-works,” a market insider told.
As for import prices, offers to southern Europe have dropped to around €650-700/mt CFR, depending on the origin, compared to €670-700/mt CFR at the beginning of this week, and down by €20-30/mt over the past week. In particular, suppliers from Japan have been offering their HRC at €650-660/mt CFR southern Europe, down by €10-20/mt week on week, while ex-Taiwan offers have settled at €670/mt CFR, compared to €680-690/mt CFR last week. At the same time, despite the decrease of import prices, market insiders have reported most bids for ex-Asia HRC at €630/mt CFR. “Apart from offering to Italy and Spain at so low prices, we also heard that ex-Japan HRC is currently offered at €650-660/mt CFR Antwerp,” an international trader told SteelOrbis.
Meanwhile, offers for ex-Indonesia HRC have been reported at €650/mt CFR southern Europe as well, down by €30/mt week on week. Offers from Vietnamese and Egyptian suppliers have been reported at around €670/mt CFR, following several big bookings for around 40,000/mt in total of ex-Egypt HRC signed with southern European customers at €680-690/mt CFR.
Offers for ex-India boron-added HRC have been reported at €670/mt CFR southern Europe, down by €20/mt over the past week. Meanwhile, according to market insiders, very limited offers have been coming from Turkey to Italy and Spain, with the indicative price level standing at €700/mt CFR and slightly below, including duty, compared to €700-720/mt CFR last week.