Although cold rolled and coated steel producers in the EU have maintained their official offers stable over the past two weeks, tradable prices have decreased slightly in some segments and further discounts are still available against the backdrop of no signs of a strengthening in the hot rolled coil (HRC) market, and given low demand from end-users in the region. However, despite slow trade activity, import prices, especially for CRC, have improved slightly over past weeks.
Currently, official offers for CRC both in Italy and northern Europe have been estimated at €760/mt ex-works, the same as last week, but down by €10/mt over the past two weeks. At the same time, the tradable prices have settled at €730-740/mt ex-works, down by €10/mt on the lower end of the range week on week and versus €750/mt ex-works two weeks ago.
In the import segment, most offers for CRC have showed a slight upward bias, with most offers for ex-Asia CRC standing at €700-705/mt CFR, up by €5-10/mt week on week. Offers for ex-India CRC have increased by 10/mt over the past week, reaching €700/mt CFR for July shipment, while offers for ex-Vietnam CRC have settled at €705/mt CFR for July-August shipment, against €695/mt CFR last week.
In the meantime, in the HDG segment, domestic offers from mills have been reported at around €770/mt ex-works, mainly the same as last week, while the workable prices have decreased slightly, by €10/mt, falling to €750-760/mt ex-works.
Import HDG prices for ex-Vietnam HDG Z140 materials have settled at €780/mt CFR, the same as last week. Besides, offers from Taiwan and India for Z120 HDG have remained relatively stable over the past week, standing at €795/mt CFR and €785/mt CFR, respectively.