Flat steel prices have been stable in Romania this week, partly owing to the stoppage of the blast furnace at Liberty Galati, which has resulted in somewhat limited supply. In the meantime, local market sentiments remain sluggish.
The domestic producer Liberty Galati has kept hot rolled coil (HRC) and cold rolled coils (CRC) prices stable week on week at €615-620/mt ex-works and €715-720/mt ex-works, respectively. Similarly, Romanian flat steel spot traders have continued to give stable offers for hot rolled sheets (HRS) and cold rolled sheets (CRS) at €740-765/mt ex-warehouse and CRS prices at €860-900/mt ex-warehouse, compared to last week, respectively.
Furthermore, in the coated segment, the mill's domestic pricing for HDG and PPGI is stable at €785-790/mt ex-works and €1,065-1,070/mt ex-works, respectively.
As mentioned previously, Liberty Galati has recently decided to idle its blast furnace for maintenance, but, according to a company official, the blast furnace will be reopened in the following week after being routinely checked.
“The BF is now shut down for normal maintenance. However, it will resume within the next week. This is nothing extraordinary, we are stopping regularly,” a representative of the sole producer told SteelOrbis.
On the other hand, despite the lack of interest among Romanian traders, import offers have remained quite stable. HRC offers from Turkey have remained unchanged over the past week, with FOB prices at $580-600/mt and freight costs of roughly €25/mt, resulting in a price to Romania of around €560-580/mt CFR. Additionally, sources have reported that Ukraine has made similar offers for HRC at €600/mt DAP, while HRS and CRS sheets have been offered at €650/mt DAP and €730-740/mt DAP.