The mood in the import HRC segment in southern Europe has continued to improve over the past week. Besides, several deals have been reported at higher levels both in Italy and Spain this week as “European buyers are anticipating further hikes,” according to sources.
Accordingly, import HRC prices in southern Europe have increased in new deals by around €20/mt over the past week to €710-735/mt CFR. In particular, as SteelOrbis reported earlier this week, after a deal for ex-Japan HRC was closed at €690/mt CFR Italy last week, the material changed hands at €710/mt CFR at the beginning of this week, while new offers have increased to €715/mt CFR and above. Besides, suppliers from India have reportedly sold around 15,000/mt in total of HRC to southern Europe at $770-780/mt CFR (€710-715/mt CFR), according to market insiders.
Meanwhile, apart from deals from Asia, buyers in southern Europe have reported purchases of around 30,000/mt in total of ex-Turkey HRC at €735/mt CFR, duty paid, for late February-beginning of March shipments. Furthermore, another deal for ex-Egypt HRC has been heard in Spain at $800/mt CFR (around €735/mt CFR) for March shipment.