SteelOrbis has been informed that ArcelorMittal has decreased its base prices for HRC in the Polish market by €140/mt ($177/mt); accordingly, the price of December production material is standing at the level of €400/mt ($505/mt) ex-works. Meanwhile, the same producer's October production HRC is at €450/mt ($569/mt) ex-warehouse, and its CRC prices are at the level of €530/mt ($670/mt) ex-warehouse also in the Polish market. On the other hand, Russian origin 2 mm HRC is being offered by Austrian traders to Poland at the price level of €400/mt ($505/mt) delivered to customer.
Russian mill Severstal has been offering 0.5 mm 200 gr/m² zinc coated HDG to the Polish market at the level of €600/mt ($758/mt) DAF Poland for December deliveries, whereas the same producer has been offering CRC at €500/mt ($632/mt) with the same terms. Ukrainian producer Ilyich has been offering heavy plate to the Polish market at the level of €515/mt ($651/mt) DAF Poland. All of the abovementioned prices are for 60-day deferred payment.
Flats offers from Russia seem uncompetitive compared to the local offers in Poland. It is known that there are high stock levels in the local Polish market on both the producer and traders sides. The Polish currency has decreased by 2.4 percent against the euro from November 18 to the close of business on December 1. Because of this development, the Polish market will likely be a difficult market for importers for a while. Consequently, hard times as regards demand are still continuing in Poland, just as in the other Eastern European countries.
As an important indicator for the future direction of industrial production, the PMI (Purchaser Managers' Index) in Poland in November decreased to its lowest level since June 1998. The index has decreased by 3.2 percent to 40.5 percent in November from October's 34.4 percent.
After a member of the Currency Board of the National Bank of Poland considered the Polish government's revised 2009 growth target of 3.7 percent to be "an optimistic number", concerns in the country regarding the future have increased.