Despite improved hot rolled coil (HRC) prospects in Europe and the positive expectations regarding the situation in Asia, activity in the Romanian flat steel market still lags somewhat behind. However, the sole Romanian producer and local retailers have sought to maintain prices rather than drop them and have offered discounts to serious purchasers to encourage demand since low demand and economic challenges have prevented market prices from rising.
Currently, prices for domestic origin hot rolled coil and cold rolled coil in Romania have stayed the same as earlier at €695-700/mt ex-works and €820-825/mt ex-works respectively.
“Customers are sceptical about increases but, since globally there are positive developments and producers are raising prices, they have had to accept higher prices. However, end-user demand in Romania is not so strong to sustain high levels,” a representative of the sole Romanian producer told SteelOrbis.
Similarly, the mill’s domestic market pricing for the coated segment has remained unchanged week on week, with HDG at €990/mt ex-works and PPGI at €1,125-1,170/mt ex-works.
Retailers, who are aware of the global strength of the HRC segment, have maintained the same price range as last week.
“We do not sell below achievable levels, while some traders do. Although we don't sell in huge quantities, I can see that buyers now accept these prices as being reasonable, and so we anticipate that prices will climb even if business activities remain slow,” a trader told SteelOrbis.
This week, retailers’ prices for hot rolled sheet (HRS) and cold rolled sheet (CRS) have remained the same week on week at €780-830/mt ex-warehouse and €990-1,050/mt ex-warehouse, respectively.