Price levels in the Romanian flat steel spot market have continued to strengthen over the past week, largely reflecting the upward trend observed in HRC prices offered by European producers as well as gradually rising import offers. Although demand in the domestic market has shown some improvement compared to previous weeks, overall trading activity remains relatively limited. As a result, despite the upward movement in price indications, certain discounts continue to be observed in transactions as buyers remain cautious in their purchasing decisions. Market participants indicate that the recent price increases have been mainly driven by the continued strengthening of HRC offers from EU mills together with higher import price levels. At the same time, sufficient stock availability and the still fragile demand environment have limited new import bookings, while rising energy costs caused by the ongoing war have also contributed to increasing price expectations among Romanian traders.
In this overall context, hot rolled sheet (HRS) offers in the Romanian spot market have increased over the past week to €780-800/mt ex-warehouse, up from €750-780/mt ex-warehouse in the previous week. A similar increase has also been observed in cold rolled sheet (CRS) prices, which are currently quoted by traders at €880-900/mt ex-warehouse, up from €850-890/mt ex-warehouse last week.
Although official levels have increased, workable prices in the market remain slightly lower as demand continues to be limited. As a result, the majority of traders are offering discounts of around €20-40/mt for serious buyers and larger-volume orders.
Meanwhile, regarding the sole domestic producer, the planned sale of Liberty Galati through an international auction scheduled for March 12 failed to materialize as no bidders ultimately participated in the procedure, despite the starting price being set at around €709.1 million. The plant has remained largely idle since mid-2024 amid ongoing financial difficulties, while many employees have reportedly faced long delays in salary payments, occasionally leading to protests. Following the unsuccessful auction, the future of the steelworks and the next steps regarding its potential sale or restructuring remain uncertain.
On the other hand, activity in the import market has remained slow as Romanian buyers still hold sufficient stocks and local demand remains limited. According to market sources, a Ukrainian mill has increased its official offers week on week by around €10/mt, with current HRS and CRS offers reported at €710-720/mt CPT and €800-810/mt CPT, respectively. Similarly, Serbian suppliers have increased their HRS offers by €10/mt to €720-730/mt CPT. Meanwhile, Slovakian suppliers are heard to be offering HRS at around €770/mt CPT. Turkish mills, on the other hand, have increased their HRC offers for April shipment to €540-550/mt CFR, compared to €515-540/mt previously, calculated on the basis of €15-20/mt freight. However, Turkish material remains subject to EU antidumping duties, while additional CBAM-related costs also need to be taken into account, further limiting its competitiveness in the Romanian market.