This week, the range of domestic coil offer prices from European mills has remained mostly unchanged for May delivery, though most mills are still targeting price increases for June delivery coils to levels of €660-680/mt ex-works, with domestic supply constraints and stricter trade measures on imports being key factors behind the mills' bullish stance, though real demand has remained stable at low levels. However, the EU trade safeguards are softer than anticipated, while the weaker dollar against the euro has made imports more appealing, leading to some bookings during past weeks.
More specifically, local HRC prices in Europe have increased again this week, with offers for mainly May delivery HRC from mills in northern Europe reported at €640-660/mt ex-works, the same as last week, though the tradable price levels have been at €630-650/mt ex-works, against €630-640/mt ex-works last week.
Meanwhile, offers from Italian mills have been voiced at €620-650/mt ex-works for May delivery, up by €10/mt week on week. However, workable prices have been reported at €610-620/mt ex-works, mainly the same as last week.
At the same time, according to sources, mills in the north have been targeting €660-680/mt ex-works for June delivery HRC, while in Italy target prices have been voiced at €650/mt ex-works and above.
In the meantime, offers for import HRC prices have remained relatively stable or have been showing a slight upward bias reaching €550-610/mt CFR, mainly the same as last week. Notably, according to sources, in the past 10-15 days Turkish mills have altogether traded at least 160,000-170,000 mt of HRC for export, particularly to European countries, mainly Italy and Spain but also to the Balkan region. The majority of the volumes were booked at €580-595/mt CFR, including duty and extras, market players report. The deals were closed mainly for May shipments and, although the producers claim to be sold out, traders are quite sure that at least a third of their May rolling HRC should be available considering their general production volumes. Currently, Turkish mills are offering HRC for export for June shipments at €610/mr CFR, including duty.
Besides, according to market insiders, another deal for around 80,000 mt of ex-Saudi Arabia HRC is reported to have been signed at €570 CFR southern Europe last week.
Offers for ex-Indonesia HRC have been estimated at around €550-560/mt CFR southern Europe, the same as last week. Besides, offers from India have been voiced at €590/mt CFR, following the announcement that India was granted a provisional exemption from antidumping duties in an investigation into HRC imports.