Notwithstanding the continuous upward price trend in the EU flats market, Romanian flat steel spot traders have chosen to keep offers unchanged throughout the past week. Even though Romanian flats spot prices have been stable, demand remains poor, with industry participants reporting limited trade since last week. As a result of the weak trade, the majority of market players, who are aware of further possible increases by EU flat mills, believe there is no potential for further price rises in the Romanian market.
Currently, in the spot market, traders’ prices for hot rolled sheets (HRS) and cold rolled sheets (CRS) are stable from last week at €720-745/mt ex-warehouse and €840-865/mt ex-warehouse, respectively.
Meanwhile, since the local flat steel producer is currently absent due to internal issues and is not likely to return soon, other suppliers are more actively offering and present in the market. Although no new deals have been witnessed in the Romanian market after a deal by Ukrainian suppliers, offers from Ukraine have remained stable over the past week. As a result, hot rolled sheet and cold rolled sheet prices are stable at €660-670/mt DAP and €750-760/mt DAP, respectively. On the other hand, Turkish mills' HRC offers have increased to an FOB price of $550-570/mt, with freight costs of around €25/mt, arriving in Romania at around €530-550/mt CFR, up from €525-540/mt CFR last week.
