Trading activity in the European HRC market has been rather modest lately, while domestic mills have been mulling price increases for August-September volumes, obviously aiming to take advantage of diminishing volumes of import HRC stocks. In the meantime, the current interest of EU buyers in HRC imports is minimal and some traders even prefer not to indicate any prices seeing no inquiries from Europe. The main reason is the continuing uncertainty regarding the new quota regime. Many expect the issue to be clarified on July 1 and until then not many are eager to accept the risks of importing. Seeing no demand from Europe, some overseas suppliers have decreased their offers over the past week.
In the southern region, HRC offers in Italy have been reported at €680-690/mt ex-works, stable over the past week. While bids from the domestic buyers are still at €665-675/mt delivered, some of the mills have been avoiding reacting to them, counting on a price uptrend in the near future. “The [order] books for August are being filled bit by bit. The quota [clarification] might not be a game changer [in short run] but will be a sign for the restart of full-scale negotiations in the local markets and for imports,” a source told SteelOrbis. In Spain, according to sources, HRC offers are at €710-720/mt ex-works, down €10/mt over the week, while some traders report €690/mt ex-works as the workable level. In the northern part of the EU, official offers have been reported at €700-720/mt ex-works this week, while some mills, according to buyers, have started voicing price ideas of around €720-730/mt ex-works for August-September. The workable levels, however, have not yet exceeded €680-700/mt ex-works/delivered.
In the import segment, the number of HRC offers has been extremely scarce with only a few suppliers being in the market amid diminished EU interest. The offers from India have been voiced at $690-700/mt CFR from one of the main sellers, while the bids have been mainly not above $660/mt CFR, in line with the latest reported deals for this origin. In addition, the indications from Turkey have been reported at €600-610/mt CFR duty paid, down €5/mt over the past week. Moreover, some sources have reported sales at $600/mt FOB from Turkey, which is around €575-585/mt CFR duty paid depending on the supplier, buyers assume. However, the information has not been confirmed by the time of publication.
In the DDP-based HRC import segment, weak interest has pushed offers down. In particular, Algeria and Turkey have dropped offers by €10-20/mt to €710/mt DDP and €680/mt DDP, respectively. Vietnam’s indications have decreased by €10/mt to €680/mt DDP, SteelOrbis has learned.
