Romania’s sole local flat steel producer has cut all its flat steel prices amid the gloomy outlook resulting from the ongoing lack of demand, global economic challenges and currency fluctuations.
“We reduced flat steel prices due to decreased business activity, while we may have lost around one month of business with higher pricing,” an official at the Romanian producer told SteelOrbis
Meanwhile, despite the negative factors, many Romanian retail traders have chosen to maintain their previous price positions.
In the import segment, according to sources, ex-Italy HRC offers have remained at €730/mt CIF, stable from last week, and Serbia also made an offer at €730/mt CIF this week, while Ukraine has offered at €690/mt CIF.
The domestic producer in Romania has dropped prices by €70/mt to €690/mt ex-works for HRC, while its price for cold rolled coil (CRC) prices has dropped to €830/mt ex-works, from €1,000/mt ex-works in the previous week. Additionally, the mill’s domestic market prices for HDG and PPGI have trended down by €120/mt and €150/mt to €880/mt ex-works and €1,210/mt ex-works, respectively.
Currently, local traders’ prices for hot rolled sheet (HRS) have remained stable at €855-900/mt ex-warehouse. Similarly, their prices for cold rolled sheet (CRS) have remained unchanged from the previous week at €945-1,000/mt ex-warehouse. Some other aggressive traders are trying to sell HRS at €820-835/mt ex-warehouse, which is viewed by many in the market as unsustainable as it may cause those traders to incur losses.