Local hot rolled coil (HRC) prices in the EU have mainly remained unchanged over the past week with mills failing to increase their offers due to sluggish demand, though continuing to keep their prices, avoiding additional discounts. Meanwhile, the import segment has been still affected by safeguard measures issue, with most offers reported at relatively the same level as last week, while trade activity has been close to zero.
Specifically, while official offers from European mills have remained at €640-650/mt ex-works in Italy and at €640-660/mt ex-works in northern Europe, unchanged from the last week, the tradable prices both in Italy and in the north have remained at €630-640/mt ex-works. According to sources, European HRC mills have been hungry for new orders, though deals have been reported mainly for small volumes at around €630/mt ex-works, for July-August delivery. “A big number of mills still have end-July delivery available, so all bullishness has been losing momentum, and prices are likely to move sideways in the short run,” a market insider said.
“We heard ArcelorMittal HRC is available at around €640/mt ex-works, and small increase is likely, maybe €10-20/mt when safeguard revisions confirmed on July 1, being much less than the duty import buyers will suffer on orders already in place, aiming primarily for tons rather than revenue, and then perhaps up to €700/mt level from October 1,” a European trader told SteelOrbis.
In the import segment, most foreign suppliers have kept their offers unchanged over the past week at €615-620/mt CFR level, though some, like those from Taiwan and Vietnam have been offering their materials at slightly lower levels of €610/mt CFR and €590/mt CFR, respectively, to attract buyers, while those from Turkey have increased their prices to €640/mt CFR, including duty, versus €615-630/mt CFR last week.
Offers from India have been reported at $665/mt CFR, which translates to around €620/mt CFR, while offers from Japan have been heard at €615/mt CFR, both same as last week. Besides, offers from South Korea have been heard at $680/mt CFR, or around €635/mt CFR.
$1 = €0.93