Over the past week, demand in the local European flat steel market has continued to be observed at medium levels, while prices have remained stable. Accordingly, European producers’ prices for hot rolled coil (HRC) are still €435-490/mt ($461-519/mt), while their cold rolled coil (CRC) prices are at €540-580/mt ($572-615/mt) and their hot dip galvanized (HDG) coil offers are at €530-590/mt ($562-625/mt), all ex-works.
Meanwhile, fraud investigations have been added to the ongoing antidumping cases in Europe. In early November, European Union’s anti-fraud office (OLAF) had started to look into several cases where Chinese steel firms were accused of shipping steel to another country, mainly to Vietnam, to disguise its origin, from where steel would then be shipped on to Europe to avoid duties or quota limits from the original producing country. In this context, it was claimed that OLAF was investigating 190 shipments of Chinese coated steel coils that arrived in Portugal, Spain and Poland from Vietnam in the 2013-14 period. Last week, the Vietnamese authorities stated that they are cooperating with the EU in investigating these allegations, though no detailed information was given. If confirmed, OLAF would apply retroactive duties of 58 percent on the shipments. Meanwhile, the US also has an ongoing investigation against Vietnam with same accusations.
In the coming period, European flat steel producers are expected to increase their prices as raw material prices have risen since the beginning of October and since import flat steel supplies in Europe are very limited amid the ongoing investigations.
€1 = $1.06