Liberty Galati, Romania’s sole flat steel producer, resumed operations last week. However, according to market sources, a blast furnace accident has occurred, leading to a temporary halt in production. Although there had been signs of activity resuming at the plant, many market participants remain cautious due to the producer’s one-year absence, unresolved debts, and ongoing technical issues. As a result, buyers continue to seek offers from alternative suppliers. No official offer prices have been released so far, and, with the blast furnace currently offline, production remains uncertain. Nevertheless, market rumors suggest that recent hot rolled sheet (HRS) offers from the producer were around €610/mt CPT.
In the spot market, activity remains limited this week due to ongoing weak demand and liquidity issues. Traders have opted to maintain their price levels unchanged from last week. Workable domestic HRS prices are in the range of €715-735/mt ex-warehouse. Likewise, cold rolled sheet (CRS) offers have remained stable, at approximately €820-840/mt ex-warehouse.
On the import side, there has been no significant change in buyer interest from Romania. Meanwhile, offers from Ukraine for HRS have declined by €10-20/mt to €610-620/mt DAP, while CRS offers remain stable at €710-730/mt DAP. Turkish mills have also lowered their hot rolled coil (HRC) prices to $575-595/mt FOB. With freight costs around €25/mt, the delivered price to Romania stands at roughly €485-500/mt, down from €500-510/mt the previous week.
