European hot rolled coil (HRC) buyers have kept refraining from purchases given weak end-user demand, coupled with still high stocks. Meanwhile, import HRC offers have continued to decrease in Spain, while offers for Italian buyers have remained relatively stable after the significant drop seen last week.
The official positions of European steel mills have remained mainly unchanged this week, with persistently high offers, standing at €700/mt ex-works, and some at even €720/mt. However, the real market situation has continued to be stably pessimistic, with tradable prices estimated at the same levels as last week at €650-670/mt ex-works both in southern and northern Europe, though some customers have even been reporting HRC offers at as low as €630-640/mt ex-works, “as suppliers are trying to fill gaps in order books for the fourth quarter,” as one market insider said.
As for the import prices, offers from almost all main suppliers to southern Europe have dropped to €620-640/mt CFR, compared to €620-660/mt CFR last week. This decrease is mainly explained by drop in HRC prices in Spain, while in Italy import prices have remined relatively unchanged. The lowest offers have been voiced by suppliers from Japan at €620/mt CFR Italy, and €620-640/mt CFR Spain, depending on the mill. Besides, a deal for around 15,000/mt of ex-Japan HRC have been reported at €630/mt CFR northern Spain this week.
Offers from Taiwan, Vietnam and India have been voiced at €620-625/mt CFR Italy, the same as last week, while customers in Spain have reported offers for materials of the same origin at €630-640/mt CFR, down by €10-20/mt week on week. Besides, offers for ex-Turkey HRC from traders have been voiced at €640-660/mt CFR Italy this week.
Furthermore, according to market insiders, this week Chinese suppliers have been inviting European customers to participate in bidding procedures for around 20,000 mt of HRC at $530/mt FOB, which translates to around €735-740/mt CFR given the antidumping duty at 27.9 percent.
