The flat steel markets in Europe were fairly silent in July and also in the first days of August when the steel markets entered the holiday period. This year, flat steel product prices in Europe indicated increases until May, with prices subsequently decreasing and hot rolled coil (HRC) prices in Europe finally coming to levels of €500-520/mt.
Looking at the European flat steel product markets in terms of stockists' sales, according to Eurometal the sales of stockists followed a continuous upward trend until April, with decreases seen in sales since then. According to Eurometal, stockists' flat steel product sales declined by seven percent in May as compared to April, while sales of cold rolled products increased.
Looking at the same period in 2009, sales of stockists in Europe had started to shown increases as of May, before softening in August due to the holiday period. After August, sales had again experienced some activity.
In 2010, prices in the global steel markets showed significant increases especially in late February and early March.
Over the month of July, in import HRC offers to Europe, Russian mills' offers were at the level of $550-570/mt FOB, ex-Ukraine offers were at $550-565/mt FOB, ex-Turkey offers were at $580-620 FOB, while ex-Egypt offers were standing at $640/mt FOB and ex-Libya offers were at €480/mt CFR. With stockists and end-users in Europe having reduced their purchases for the previous two to three months, in July they concluded some purchases for the post-holiday period, albeit at low tonnages.
Demand is expected to gain some momentum in the local European markets after the holidays.