Trade in the European HRC market has been slow as buyers are already entering the summer lull. Still, domestic workable prices have been rising slowly amid the clear understanding that prices will move only upwards once the vacation period is over.
Difficulties in the import segment have cooled down somewhat lately, with mostly big buyers being in the market still to secure quotas for the last quarter of the year. From what is seen in the market, the large importers either prefer buying from Turkey or Egypt, or, in the case of Asia, they choose the most suitable origin and try to close the quota in one go.
Local workable HRC prices in Italy are at around €700/mt ex-works, and in Spain and up north they are around €705-715/mt ex-works. The official offer levels across Europe are at €700-750/mt ex-works, with the higher end recently announced in Spain, SteelOrbis has learned. The expectation for August-September is close to €750-800/mt ex-works.
In the import segment, a medium-sized deal has been reported from Egypt at $690-695/mt CFR (CBAM cost assumed by the supplier), down $5-10/mt over the past week. In addition, Turkey has been offering at $570-575/mt FOB - down from $580/mt FOB - which is around €565-575/mt CFR. According to sources, India has sold lately at $630-650/mt CFR, down from around $650/mt CFR in the deals last week. As a result, offers at $670/mt CFR did not work. In the DDP segment, ex-Asia HRC offers are at €730-730/mt.
In the other flats segments, 2 mm HDG ex-South Korea and Vietnam has stood this week at €870/mt and €850/mt CFR, respectively. CRC offers from South Korea have been reported at €845-855/mt CFR. “CRC is a big problem. The next ex-Vietnam shipment is in September, with November-December arrival in Europe, while the AD investigation will finish in November,” a source told SteelOrbis.
