Although European flat steel companies have been aiming to raise their prices, these attempts have failed so far both for cold rolled coil (CRC) and coated steel, amid the still far from positive mood in the hot rolled coil (HRC) segment, extremely slow demand from end-users, coupled with almost zero import trade activity.
More specifically, in the domestic CRC market in the EU, producers are offering at €750-760/mt ex-works, down by €10/mt week on week, while the tradable prices have dropped to €740-750/mt ex-works, down by €10/mt, both in the south and north of Europe.
In the meantime, offers for imported CRC have remained relatively unchanged over the past week, standing at €685-710/mt CFR mostly for ex-Asia materials, like those from India, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam and Japan. “We are mainly receiving offers already for November-December shipments for ex-Asia CRC, but many believe November shipments should still be available,” a Spanish trader said.
Meanwhile, local prices for HDG have been estimated at €780-800/mt ex-works from mills in southern and northern Europe, the same as last week, though the tradable prices have been voiced at €770-780/mt ex-works in the north and €760-770/mt ex-works in Italy, down by €10/mt week on week. At the same time, most import offers for HDG mainly for Z140 have settled at €780-820/mt CFR southern Europe, down by €20/mt on the lower end of the range week on week. Offers for ex-Vietnam Z140 HDG are coming at $850/mt CFR, or €795/mt CFR, down by €5/mt week on week, while offers for ex-India HDG have been heard €780/mt CFR. At the same time, offers for ex-Taiwan HDG have been heard at as high as €820-840/mt CFR.