As anticipated, the uptrend of hot rolled coil (HRC) prices in Europe has continued this week due to a combination of improved end-user demand and the almost fully closed orders for March deliveries of domestic mills. Besides, import HRC prices have continued to increase this week, with more price hikes expected in the short run.
Accordingly, compared to last week, HRC offer prices in the EU have increased by around €10-30/mt to €740-780/mt ex-works, with the lower end of the range corresponding to offers in the south and the higher end to offers in the north of Europe. More specifically, tradable prices are currently at €740/mt ex-works in the Italian market, compared to €730/mt ex-works at the beginning of last week. “One of the Italian mills sold some big volumes at €743/mt ex-works at the end of last week, and so this week we are expecting deal prices to reach €750/mt ex-works. In Spain, deal prices for HRC are at €740-750/mt ex-works already,” a market insider told SteelOrbis. At the same time, some Italian mills are targeting €760-780/mt ex-works for April deliveries, though “nobody has officially declared their April allocations so far, and ArcelorMittal is thinking of €800/mt minimum for southern Europe and €820/mt for northern Europe,” according to one of the biggest steel mills in the EU.
Meanwhile, steel mills in northern Europe have been largely out of the market this week, though, according to market insiders, the indicative offer prices are estimated at around €760-780/mt ex-works, with a targeted increase to €800/mt ex-works for April delivery materials.
At the same time, although in general business activity has remained slow in the import segment, several bookings have been reported over the past week given the continuous uptrend. In particular, ex-Japan HRC was sold to Belgium and Poland at €690/mt CFR and €700/mt CFR, respectively, for March shipment. Besides, after a deal for ex-Japan HRC was reported at €690/mt CFR Italy last week, the material has changed hands at €710/mt CFR at the beginning of this week, while new offers have increased to €715/mt CFR and above. Meanwhile, HRC offers from India have increased by around €30/mt week on week, reaching €710-715/mt CFR southern Europe. According to market sources, a deal for ex-India HRC has been signed at the abovementioned level this week, though this information has not been confirmed by the time of publication.
