Over the past week, demand from end-users in the European flat steel market has remained lively, while traders have slowed down their bookings considering the current price levels to be on the high side.
In terms of price levels, hot rolled coil (HRC) prices in Europe have remained firm since producers’ order books are almost full and due to the possible imposition of definitive antidumping duties on imports from Brazil, Russia, Ukraine and Iran. With supplies of hot dip galvanized (HDG) coil and cold rolled coil (CRC) in Europe more plentiful compared to HRC supplies which have been negatively impacted by the ongoing antidumping duties on imports from certain countries, HDG and CRC prices have declined week on week due to downward pressure from traders and due to the decreases in prices of flat steel and raw material in the global market.
As a result, hot rolled coil (HRC) prices in Europe are still at €520-560/mt ($614-661/mt), while CRC and HDG coil prices have moved down by €10/mt week on week to €590-630/mt ($696-743/mt) and €620-670/mt ($732-791/mt), all ex-works.
$1 = €1.18