Following the rises in Turkish hot rolled coil (HRC) offers, European HRC producers announced that they will hike their domestic market prices. In this context, having increased its HRC prices by €30/mt in late January, ArcelorMittal has announced an additional rise of €30/mt for its domestic market offers, while other European HRC producers are expected to follow its example in the coming days. Meanwhile, higher HRC prices will likely push up European welded pipe producers’ production costs as they will have to replenish their inventories. As a result, even though prices in the local European welded pipe market are on the low side for now since some producers have not revised their prices, domestic welded pipe prices in the region are likely to move upwards by €10-20/mt in March in line with the rises in HRC prices. As for the second quarter of this year, HRC prices in the local European HRC market are not expected to record sharp declines.
A Bulgarian steel producer’s offers for ERW pipes as per EN 10219, which moved upwards last week, have remained stable week on week at €570-580/mt ($644-661/mt) ex-works. The Bulgarian welded pipe producer’s European market quotations to Germany are at €600-610/meter ($678-689/meter) CPT, to Hungary are at €575-580/meter ($649-661/meter) CPT, to Australia are at €585-590/meter ($661-667/meter) CPT, and to Belgium and the Netherlands are at €615-620/meter ($695-701/meter) CPT, while its offers to the Czech Republic, Poland, Croatia and Slovakia are standing at €610-620/mt ($689-701/mt) CPT, and its offers to Slovenia are at €615-620/mt ($695-701/mt) CPT.
€1 = $1.13