The downturn in Romania’s flats market has continued this week and prices have decreased once again from most sellers. The overall business environment has remained challenging since stocks are still high while demand is not sufficient. The reported weakening of the scrap market is also adding to the negative sentiment. However, some traders have decided to voice higher prices this week, contrary to most suppliers in the Romanian market, claiming the current prices are too low to be profitable.
In the local market in Romania, the prices for the domestic origin of hot rolled coil (HRC) have dropped to €730-735/mt ex-works from €770-775/mt ex-works, but the source indicated that for bigger tonnages a significant discount is possible.
In the retail market, traders’ prices for hot rolled sheets (HRS) have decreased by €35-50/mt over the past week to €850-950/mt ex-warehouse. Nevertheless, some other medium-size traders are trying to sell at aggressive levels, as indicated above, at €1,050-1,055/mt ex-warehouse which is not possible in this situation. “The main reason is that demand increased a little, and prices for imports in the third quarter are higher than in the previous quarter, and we are trying to minimize losses, which is also normal,” a trader mentioned to SteelOrbis
Meanwhile, Romanian domestic pricing for cold rolled coil (CRC) has decreased this week to €850-855/mt ex-works from €890-895/mt ex-works. In addition, the feasible prices for cold rolled sheets (CRS) are currently at €1,045-1,120/mt ex-warehouse, which has dropped €10/mt from the previous week.
Furthermore, in the coated steel segment, the domestic market offers for HDG dropped significantly by €90/mt, and now the workable range is €910-915/mt ex-works. Likewise in the PPGI market prices have decreased to €1,320-1,325/mt ex-works, from €1,450/mt ex-works last Friday.