Even though Romanian flat steel spot traders decreased their offer prices last week in reaction to the continuing poor demand, which has been exacerbated this week owing to adverse weather, they have decided to keep their offer prices stable this week. According to industry participants, while sentiments in the EU flat steel market have improved, trading in the Romanian domestic market continues to struggle to attract buyers' interest even as prices decline, and so traders prefer to keep their offers stable for the time being.
In the meantime, Romania's sole flat steel producer has been silent, with no new offers, while various negative rumors have circulated without any reaction from the producer, while it has not begun production either. Previously, its hot rolled coils (HRC) offers were available at €590-600/mt CPT.
Currently, in the spot market, workable domestic hot rolled sheet (HRS) prices are quoted at €700-735/mt ex-warehouse, unchanged week on week. Similarly, cold rolled sheet offers have remained stable compared to last week at around €820-845/mt ex-warehouse.
On the other hand, in the import segment, due to the absence of the sole producer, traders have begun to pick alternative suppliers such as Turkey and Ukraine. However, because of the slower demand, traders were purchasing fewer quantities, while no deals have been heard this week. According to sources, HRS and CRS offers from Ukraine remain unchanged from the previous week, at €650-660/mt DAP and €740-750/mt DAP, respectively. In contracts, HRC offers from Turkey have declined slightly this week, with FOB pricing at roughly $530-540/mt and freight cost at around €25/mt, resulting in a price to Romania of around €530-540/mt CFR, down from €535-545/mt CFR.