Over the past two weeks, demand in the local European flat steel market has remained strong, while prices have increased with support from the uptrend of ex-CIS slab quotations. Accordingly, hot rolled coil (HRC) prices in Europe have increased by €10/mt on the lower end to €540-570/mt ($670-707/mt), while cold rolled coil (CRC) prices have risen by €20/mt on the lower end and by €10/mt on the upper end to €620-650/mt ($769-806/mt), respectively, all ex-works, compared to two weeks ago.
As European producers’ order books are fairly full until April production, prices will likely rise by a further small margin in the coming period. According to market sources, European buyers are mostly meeting their HRC needs from domestic and Turkish producers due to the current antidumping duties on imports of HRC from several countries.
€1 = $1.24