Since the adverse circumstances have not improved after the summer holidays and have continued to impact the Romanian flats market, the sole domestic flat steel producer has chosen to slightly lower hot rolled coil pricing while keeping other product prices stable. Meanwhile, Romanian traders, who are fully aware of the market situation, have attempted to raise hot rolled sheet prices, but customers have been reluctant to accept as some other traders are offering significantly lower levels than the current market prices.
Over the past week, the domestic steel producer in Romania has chosen to lower the price of hot rolled coil (HRC) by €5-10/mt to €665-670/mt ex-works, while keeping the price of cold rolled coil (CRC) at €795/mt ex-works.
Similar to CRC, the mill's domestic market pricing for HDG and PPGI in the category of coated steel is also stable week on week, at €825/mt ex-works and €1,115/mt ex-works, respectively.
In contrast, Romanian traders have chosen to lower prices for cold rolled sheets this week while trying to slightly increase hot rolled sheet prices, even knowing that end-user demand has remained at low levels. According to reports, pricing for hot rolled sheets has increased by €10/mt to €760-800/mt ex-warehouse, and cold rolled sheet prices have decreased from last week to €855-870/mt ex-warehouse, from €880-900/mt ex-warehouse before.
“I believe that the offer prices are still too expensive for the existing demand. However, stocks are practically full at all traders and no one wants to decrease the prices. We will see how it goes in September, but August was difficult,” a Romanian trader commented to SteelOrbis.
Meanwhile, according to market participants, although most traders are attempting to raise prices, certain traders are offering hot rolled sheets at roughly €740/mt ex-warehouse in order to draw the attention of more customers.
Moreover, in the import segment, according to sources, Bulgaria has been offering heavy plates at €760/mt DAP, while Italy has been offering PPGI at €1,020/mt DAP.