Weak flat steel demand in Iberian Peninsula

Flat steel demand in the Spanish domestic market has remained weak, while no improvement is expected in market activity up to the second quarter of 2012. In the local Spanish flat steel market, hot rolled coil (HRC) base prices are standing at €500/mt ($675/mt) ex-works. In the meantime, it is considered difficult for Turkish HRC offers at $615-620/mt FOB to find acceptance in Spain, while Russian HRC offers at $570-580/mt FOB seem more competitive. In the meantime, it is also heard that Russian flat steel producers are offering cold rolled coil (CRC) to the European markets at as low as $700-720/mt CFR, in order to fill their order books for December production.
 
In the meantime, although flat steel demand in Portugal is fairly slack, domestic prices have been following a sideways trend in recent weeks. Italian and Spanish HRC offers to Portugal are standing at €470-480/mt ($635-648/mt) CFR, while local stockists' HRC offers are at €600/mt ($810/mt) ex-warehouse.  The Portuguese steelmaker Lusosider's hot dip galvanized (HDG) coil offers to its domestic market are standing at €570/mt ($770/mt)ex-works, while HDG demand in the country is quite low.