While trade in the European hot rolled coil (HRC) market has been gradually improving during the past weeks, especially in northern Europe where mills have been largely sold out for first quarter deliveries of HRC, the leading regional producer ArcelorMittal has decided to push its domestic prices across the EU up by around €10/mt since late December. Thus, other European mills have followed suit raising their HRC prices slightly, influenced also by trade restrictions and by stronger buying interest, while short-term expectations remain cautiously optimistic.
More specifically, in the local EU market, ArcelorMittal announced its new target for HRC at €650/mt delivered in the south and at €660/mt delivered in the north, which translated to around €640-650/mt ex-works mainly for April deliveries, up €10-20/mt from the previous official levels announced in late December. Meanwhile, official offers from other European mills have been estimated at €620-630/mt ex-works for April delivery in northern Europe, the same as last week, and at €600-620/mt ex-works for March and April deliveries in Italy, up by €10/mt on the higher end of the range week on week.
At the same time, the tradable level in the north has been estimated at €600/mt ex-works, up by €10/mt on the lower end of the range over the past week, while workable prices in Italy have been assessed at €580-600/mt ex-works, against €580-590/mt ex-works last week. “Some sales from northern European mills have been reported at €600/mt delivered Spain this week, while tradable prices in Italy have been close to €600/mt as well,” a market insider said.
“We were aware an increase [from ArcelorMittal] was coming at around this level and hope it will stick. Of course, import volumes are already dampened by the dumping investigations and the risk of additional import duties under the EU safeguard review. The big question is how much the safeguard measures will be tightened,” an international trader told SteelOrbis.
As for import prices, most offers have been voiced at €560-590/mt CFR, the same as last week. Offers from Indonesia have remained at €570/mt CFR, while offers for ex-Taiwan HRC have been estimated at around €560/mt CFR, given their offers at $525/mt FOB reported this week. Furthermore, offers for ex-Egypt HRC have been voiced at €570/mt CFR.
In the meantime, offers for ex-Turkey HRC are still estimated at €590/mt CFR, including duty, the same as last week. However, talk about several deals signed to southern Europe at €610-620/mt DDP, including duty, have been circulating in the market this week.