Following the better mood in the local hot rolled coil (HRC) segment mounting in Europe this month, cold rolled coil (CRC) and hot dip galvanized (HDG) suppliers have also been aiming to further increase their prices, as expected. However, as also expected, most European flat steel buyers and end-users have continued to remain sceptical, while trade has been lacking strength, affected by weak demand and more competitive import offers.
More specifically, in the domestic CRC market in the EU, tradable prices have increased by around €10-20/mt over the past two weeks to €730-740/mt ex-works in Italy and to €740-750/mt ex-works in northern Europe, respectively. However, offers from mills have much higher, reaching €750-780/mt ex-works, with the lower end of the range corresponding to prices from Italian mills, while the higher end corresponds to offers in the north.
Meanwhile, import prices for CRC have been voiced at €700-715/mt CFR, up by €30/mt over the past two weeks. Particularly, while at the beginning of the week several deals were reported to have been signed at €685/mt CFR Italy, by the end of the week new Taiwan CRC offers have been voiced at €705/mt CFR for February delivery. Furthermore, ex-Japan and ex-South Korea CRC offers have been heard at €700-710/mt CFR, while a deal for ex-Japan CRC is reported to have been done at €715/mt CFR Spain this week, through a trader.
At the same time, the tradable local prices for HDG have increased to €750-770/mt ex-works, up by €30/mt over the past two weeks, while offers from Italian and northern European mills have settled at €770-780/mt ex-works and €800/mt ex-works, respectively, mainly the same as two weeks ago. Meanwhile, HDG offers have been estimated at €785-815/mt CFR, up by €5-15/mt over the past two weeks. According to sources, although most ex-India HDG offers through traders have been voiced at €800-805/mt CFR, several deals for ex-India HDG directly from mills have been heard at discounted levels this week. Specifically, an eastern India-based integrated mill has reported a trade for 5,000 mt for delivery to Antwerp at $785-790/mt FOB, or around €770-775/mt CFR, while another Gujarat-based mill in the west has concluded a deal for delivery to Italy for 8,000 mt at $790/mt FOB (around €775/mt CFR). Besides, according to Spanish buyers, ex-India HDG is also reported to have been sold in Spain as well this week, though no details regarding the contract prices have been disclosed by the time of publication.
Furthermore, offers for ex-Vietnam HDG z140 have been voiced in Spain and Greece at €810-815/mt CFR this week.