Domestic HRC prices are still trending down in the EU market, as transaction activities have remained scarce, while most European producers have kept refraining from giving firm offers, though tradable prices both in northern Europe and in Italy have decreased once again by around €20-25/mt over the past week. At the same time, although import prices have also been declining this week, interest in imported HRC is still limited due to the safeguard quota issue and longer lead times, coupled with the bearish outlook for both import and local prices.
More specifically, HRC prices from mills in northern Europe are still rare this week, with indicative prices standing at €720-730/mt ex-works for April-May deliveries, against €730-760/mt ex-works last week. However, the tradable prices have been voiced at €700-720/mt ex-works, compared to €720/mt CFR last week.
Workable prices in Italy have decreased by around €25/mt week on week to €680-690/mt ex-works, still mainly for April delivery HRC, while indicative offers from mills have been estimated at around €700/mt ex-works, down by €25-30/mt over the past week.
“The negative sentiment suggests the Europeans will drop their HRC offers to the mid-€600s, especially if raw materials continue to move down, so it’s a big risk for buyers,” a market insider told SteelOrbis, adding, “Local HRC may hit €650 ex-works in the short run.”
As for the import HRC segment, more price declines have been heard again this week. In particular, ex-Asia HRC offers to southern Europe have settled at €605-620/mt CFR, against €620-650/mt CFR last week, with the lower end of the range corresponding to offers in Italy, while suppliers from Vietnam, Japan and Taiwan are reported to have offered their materials to Spain at €610-615/mt CFR. According to market insiders, talk about a few deals for around 20,000-30,000 mt in total of ex-India HRC signed at around €605/mt CFR has been circulating in the market, though this information has not been confirmed by the time of publication. “You can probably get down to €600 with a bid, but there’s a risk of 4-5 percent safeguard duty, and that’s for October 1 clearance. It may be too late already to catch July 1 for many origins. Besides, customers are afraid local prices will keep falling as well,” an international trader said.
Furthermore, offers for ex-Turkey HRC have been reported at €630-640/mt CFR, including duty, versus €670/mt CFR last week. Besides, offers from Egypt have also been voiced at around €630/mt CFR for May shipment.
