Due to rising energy prices, the Romanian flat steel producer has acted in line with other European mills and increased its domestic offers. Local traders, in the meantime, have decided to keep their sheet offers relatively stable and report they are not willing to provide discounts. Despite the price hike by the producer, there is still a lack of the demand for flats in Romania and a lot of sources have doubts that the low consumption rates will improve in the near term due to inflation, currency fluctuations, and other economic issues. Many traders believe that it will be difficult to try to maintain this increase.
“Right now, there is insufficient demand, and traders' stocks are quite large, and no one wants to sell below cost. Furthermore, nobody really knows which way the balance is going to shift. On the contrary, flat steel producers in Europe want a further increase, but it is not possible under these conditions. As a result of lower business activity, nearly all of the European flat steel producers are considering shutting down operations or significantly reducing production capacities,” a source told SteelOrbis.
Over the course of the week, the price of hot rolled coil (HRC) of domestic origin in Romania has increased by €50/mt to €820/mt ex-works. In contrast, traders' prices for hot rolled sheets (HRS) have remained unchanged from the previous week at €845-900/mt ex-warehouse, which is still much higher than the mill’s offer level. In the import segment, there is a lack of offers due to the plentiful supply of stocks.
Meanwhile, Romanian domestic cold rolled coil (CRC) prices have increased this week to €930/mt ex-works from €890/mt ex-works last week. Furthermore, the viable price for cold rolled sheets (CRS) has remained at €975-1,040/mt ex-warehouse. Similarly, this week was a paucity of offers for imports due to sufficient supply of stocks.
Furthermore, in the coated steel category, HDG and PPGI domestic market prices increased from previous weeks, with HDG prices at €1,010/mt ex-works, up from €900/mt ex-works the previous weeks, and PPGI expected to be at €1,250/mt ex-works in the fourth quarter.
