Following the global uptrend and rises seen in the domestic market in Europe in previous weeks, European HRC producers have continued to target further increases in their product prices as expected, although, according to sources, the uptrend still lacks the support of demand from users. In addition, foreign HRC suppliers have been bullish as well, and so trade has been rather slow, with only a few deals reported this week.
Last week, domestic hot rolled coil (HRC) prices stood at €800-830/mt ex-works, and €850/mt ex-works was possible from several mills. This week, however, in the latest offers for May-June shipment HRC, Italian mills are voicing €800-830/mt ex-works, the same as last week, with the tradable offers reported at €790-795/mt ex-works. Mills in northern European have settled their offers at €830-850/mt ex-works, versus €800-850/mt last week, and up to €860/mt ex-works in some cases, though the workable level has been estimated at around €820/mt ex-works, according to sources.
“More restocking is expected in mid-March but we still doubt there will be enough support from the re-rollers’ side as well as from the automotive and white goods sectors,” a market insider said.
In the import segment, trade activity has been slower this week, while most foreign suppliers have kept raising their HRC offers for southern European customers. In particular, offers to southern Europe have settled at €755-800/mt CFR, depending on the origin, up by €10-30/mt over the past week. The lower end of the range corresponds to ex-Vietnam HRC at €755-760/mt CFR, the same as last week, with several deals reported at the abovementioned levels. Meanwhile, offers from other Asian suppliers, including those from Japan and South Korea, have been reported at as high as €780-800/mt CFR Spain this week, compared to €760-770/mt CFR last week. Furthermore, offers from India have been voiced at €770-780/mt CFR, up by €5/mt week on week.
“Import offers have been rather limited, apart from Asia, almost no one has been offering. We estimate ex-Egypt HRC offers at around €800/mt CFR as well,” a Spanish trader said.
