While most HRC suppliers globally have chosen to keep their prices relatively stable, trade has remained modest in most regions, though some suppliers including those from Asia and Turkey have reported slightly improved interest in the EU after a long pause in import bookings in the region. However, although restocking activity has improved to some extent in Europe this week, most European buyers have remained cautious and prefer to book small volumes to avoid high levels of stocks as demand remains an issue. In the meantime, no great surge in ex-China HRC prices has been reported so far, since, after some increase seen in local and futures HRC prices in China at the beginning of the week, by the end of the week prices have shown downward movement.
Although the Chinese market reopened in a rather positive manner after the Labor Day holiday last week, only some upward bias has been heard from a few Chinese HRC mills this week, while most Chinese suppliers have preferred to keep their export offers stable. At the same time, offer prices from a number of Chinese traders have moved down in some trade destinations like Vietnam due to slow demand and the reappearance of non-VAT offers, while other ex-China HRC offers, to the Middle East, have been showing upward movement. Export offers for boron-added SS400 HRC given by most major Chinese mills have settled at $545-550/mt FOB, compared to $540-560/mt FOB last week, though according to sources, some offers could still be heard at $560/mt FOB. Meanwhile, offers from Chinese suppliers have been moving in different directions this week, depending on the destination. The tradable prices have been voiced at around $530-550/mt FOB, versus $530-545/mt FOB last week.
Most ex-India HRC prices have remained stable in the majority of the major trade destinations, amid mainly negligible trade activity, with sellers unwilling to push deals and focusing on domestic sales. However, export offers to Europe have indicated another increase this week, even though most European buyers have remained cautious as regards imports in view of the long delivery lead times and the safeguard quota issue. More specifically, ex-India HRC prices have settled at $550-600/mt FOB, versus $550-585/mt FOB last week, with only deals for very small tonnages reported during the past week, mainly at the lower end of the range. Indian HRC offers to Europe have increased to $640-650/mt CFR, which translates to around $590-600/mt FOB, up by $5-10/mt week on week. According to sources, there are no export allocations by large Indian mills nor are sellers giving exports a push, while local sales look more lucrative and domestic prices are indicating a positive trend.
In Vietnam, trading activity in the import HRC market has been slow this week given the continuous fluctuations in ex-China HRC offers coupled with low demand. At the same time, by the end of this week Vietnamese steel producer Formosa Ha Tinh Steel (FHS) announced that its local prices for HRC, mainly for July shipment, will be $15/mt higher compared to last month, reaching $595-605/mt CIF Vietnam ports for non-skin passed SAE1006 and SS400 HRC and $600-610/mt CIF skin-passed SAE1006 HRC. This move has been viewed by most Vietnamese buyers as “rather ambitious” given the increasing pressure from cheaper ex-China imports. Specifically, in the import HRC market in Vietnam, market insiders have been actively discussing the return of non-VAT Chinese traders to the market with cheaper offers. Besides, several deals for ex-China Q235/SS400 HRC are reported to have been signed at $535/mt CFR, while the previous offers reported earlier this week were standing at $540-545/mt CFR. Meanwhile, the reference price for import SAE1006 HRC has been estimated at $560-565/mt CFR, against $560-570/mt CFR last week, based on mainly ex-China offers.
In Europe, local and import HRC prices have remined relatively stable amid moderate restocking activity. Some upward bias has still been seen in Italy, though both in the north of Europe and in Italy the workable HRC prices have remained lower than mills’ official targets. More specifically, the tradable values have remained at €630-640/mt ex-works in northern Europe, the same as last week, while workable prices in Italy have been fixed in a number of deals at around €650/mt delivered, which translates to around €640/mt ex-works, or up by €10/mt week on week. Meanwhile, official offers from steel mills have remained at €640-660/mt ex-works in northern Europe and have increased by €10/mt week on week in Italy to around €660/mt ex-works. In the import segment, most foreign suppliers have kept their offers to the EU unchanged at €600-630/mt CFR, with several fresh deals reported in southern Europe for ex-Japan HRC at €615-630/mt CFR. Apart from Asian suppliers, more deals for at least 30,000 mt have been reported this week for ex-Turkey HRC in Spain at around €610-620/mt CFR including duty, though market insiders have also reported another deal for ex-Turkey HRC at €610/mt CFR, for delivery in July, excluding duty, which translates to around €642/mt CFR.
In Turkey, domestic demand for HRC has remained rather insufficient which, coupled with the relatively stable import scrap price trend, has prevented mills from increasing prices. In fact, according to sources, some of them have been flexible in discounts in order to boost demand. However, the size of the discounts in both domestic and export markets has been moderate given the lower pressure from Asia, particularly China, and the relatively firm European market. As a result, since the end of last week, Turkey has traded at least 30,000 mt of HRC to Europe at around $590-600/mt FOB, versus the earlier-targeted $600-620/mt FOB. In the domestic market, official offers stand at $620-635/mt ex-works, while one of the suppliers is reported to be ready to sell at $610/mt ex-works. Import offers have been mainly coming from China for Q195 material at $580-590/mt CFR for around 30,000 mt lots, while batches of up to 50,000 mt have been priced at $570-575/mt CFR, SteelOrbis has learned. The weak HRC segment has also added to the pressure on import slab pricing in Turkey, while Asian slabs remain too high at $555-560/mt CFR, and deals for sanctioned Russian material have been reported at $470-475/mt CFR, while non-sanctioned Russian material has been on offer at $520/mt CFR, versus buyers’ price ideas at $500-510/mt CFR.
In the UAE, this week imports were quiet due to both the ongoing lack of local demand and the hikes observed in Chinese suppliers’ HRC prices. Reports state that SS400 offers from China to the UAE for August shipment have increased this week to $580–595/mt, up from $570–585/mt CFR last week. Furthermore, as the Emirates have expressed an interest in purchasing in recent weeks, India has resumed offering SAE1006 HRC to the GCC at $610-630/mt CFR for June and July shipments. Meanwhile, Japanese and South Korean suppliers' offers this week have been stable at $590/mt CFR and $610-620/mt CFR for June shipment, respectively.