Day: 6 March 2023

Market activity remained slow in the wire rod and rebar market in Northern Europe amid subdued demand levels.

Mills announced they were targeting price rises on rebar products in Northern Europe on Monday February 27. Targeted price rises were reported at €30-50 per tonne for rebar in Northern Europe.

Increasing scrap costs and expected improved demand in March have prompted producers to raise prices.

The market has not digested price increases, Fastmarkets heard, and the response has been low demand. It remains to be seen whether the market will eventually accept the rise in prices.

The market was not reported to be trading at these increased prices. Prices were also not reported to have changed since last week. As a result, prices remained unchanged in the Northern European longs market.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar) domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was €710-730 ($754-775) per tonne on Wednesday, stable week-on-week.

Market activity remained slow in the Northern European rebar market in the week to March 1.

“The mills announced increases, but it isn’t clear whether these prices will be sustainable,” a buyer source said.

“What is clear is that prices are not going to drop any lower. Reduced imports because of Turkey being out of the market and non-competitive import prices means there is increased appetite for domestic stock. We are heading into the warmer months and March normally is a good month in terms of demand,” they added.

However, other market participants were less optimistic.

“Scrap prices are rising so we expect prices to start growing, and producers are united in saying they will raise prices,” a producer source said.

“However, I don’t see demand growing at this moment. The market is currently unchanged,” they added.

International scrap prices, which have been on the rise since December 2022, affect all long steel product prices, which have risen since mid-February.

“Scrap prices are increasing, and the wire rod producers are worried about how high they will go,” a producer source said.

“Customers are asking for rollovers of the same price of February. Whilst presently we are accepting orders at this level, we are going to increase prices based on rising scrap prices,” they added.

Fastmarkets’ daily calculation of the index for steel scrap HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), North Europe origin, cfr Turkey was $445.00 per tonne on March 1, up from $436.12 per tonne last week.

Market fundamentals remained unchanged in the Northern wire rod market amid weak demand.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel wire rod (mesh quality), domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was €680-720 per tonne, down by €10 per tonne from €690-720 per tonne week on week.

Mills will either keep prices stable in March or target a small price increase, Fastmarkets heard.

Published by: India-Inés Levy

3 Mar 2023

Most flat steel prices in Turkey increased in the week to Friday, March 3, in line with strong demand and limited supplies, sources told Fastmarkets.Flat steel prices have been increasing since two earthquakes struck the Kahramanmaras region of Turkey on Monday, February 6.

10 cities in the region were affected and the port at Iskenderun was damaged.

The biggest steel producer in the region, Iskenderun Iron & Steel (Isdemir) has still not resumed production, but Koç Metalurji and MMK Metalurji have announced they have restarted steel production.

Because of limited steel supplies in the country, sources said, the Turkish government postponed the introduction of higher import duties on flat steel products until April 1, 2023.

Turkish steelmakers had a meeting with the country’s Ministry of Trade to discuss the steel supply plan for reconstruction of the earthquake-affected cities on March 2.

Led by the deputy minister of trade, Ö Volkan Agar, the main topic of the meeting was the need for about 5 million tonnes of steel for reconstruction of the region over the course of the next year. Another meeting will be held by the Ministry of Trade on Tuesday March 7.

Domestic prices
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel hot-rolled coil, domestic, exw Turkey was $820-860 per tonne on March 3, rising from $800-850 per tonne on February 24.

Turkish HRC producers were offering the product at $800-870 per tonne ex-works for June production during the week, compared with offers at $800-860 per tonne ex-works last week.

Only one Turkish producer was offering HRC toward the end of the week, while other mills had stopped taking orders, sources said.

The weekly price assessment for steel cold-rolled coil, domestic, exw Turkey was $1,000-1,050 per tonne on Friday, unchanged week-on-week.

Turkish CRC producers were offering the product with 1mm thickness at $1,000-1,050 per tonne ex-works during the past seven days.

HRC exports
The export market for Turkish HRC was slow during the past seven days because producers focused on meeting local demand.

Offers were at $820-830 per tonne FOB for HRC.

As a result, Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel HRC, export, fob main port Turkey was $820-830 per tonne on March 3, rising from $810-820 per tonne on February 24.

Import prices
China sold HRC at $710 per tonne CFR Turkey for late April shipping and increased its offer price to $725-730 per tonne CFR Turkey for May shipping.

Russia sold HRC at $770 per tonne CFR Turkey. Egypt sold over 30,000 tonnes of HRC to Turkey at $800-810 per tonne CFR during the week.

Russia`s NLMK did not offer any new quantities of HRC for May shipment in the week to Friday, but the company is planning to offer material at about $815-820 per tonne CFR Turkey, sources said.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel HRC, import, cfr main port Turkey was $710-800 per tonne on Friday, rising from $690-760 per tonne on February 24.

China CRC was on offer at $790 per tonne CFR.

Market participants indicated that Russian CRC offers would be about $880 per tonne CFR, an increase in line with HRC prices.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel CRC import, CFR main port Turkey was $790-880 per tonne on March 3, rising from $800-850 per tonne on February 24.

Published by: Serife Durmus

3 Mar 2023

Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northwest Europe increased March 3, supported by limited availability from both domestic and overseas suppliers.

Some steelmakers have withdrawn offers from the market and were expected to return with higher offers at the start of next week, sources said.

“ArcelorMittal and Tata Steel have withdrawn offers on Thursday, and we will see higher prices next week,” a German service center source said. “It seems that offers for HRC will move up by another Eur20/mt to Eur860/mt delivered Germany.”

In the meantime, deals for the material have been reported at Eur810-830/mt ex-works Ruhr. Market participants estimated tradable values within the same range.

Platts assessed domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northwest Europe up by Eur15/mt on day to Eur820/mt ex-works Ruhr March 3.

The price increase has been supported by European mills’ solid order books, limited availability, long lead times for imports and an anticipated restocking revival.

European mills have been offering May-June delivery HRC. Some steelmakers in Northwest Europe have had limited volumes to offer due to technical issues at the plants, and a steelmaker in Italy has been reported to focus on sales of non-commodity grade coil.

The mills and majority of market sources expect that distributors would start restocking soon as they have been holding back from purchases of bigger volumes of coil since mid-January.

Import offers of HRC with delivery in late July-August have only been available from Asia at Eur750-790/mt CIF Antwerp. Offers from Turkey have been absent after the February’s earthquakes.

Platts assessed import prices for hot-rolled coil in Northwest Europe up Eur10/mt day on day to Eur760/mt CIF Antwerp.

The main challenge to the bullish mood in the European market remained end-user resistance to higher prices.

“Distributors struggle to transfer price rises to their customers,” a mill source said. “End-users see that there is little ground for demand recovery and, therefore, no good reasons for the price rise.”

Platts is part of S&P Global Commodity Insights.

— Maria Tanatar

EUROMETAL organized last Thursday a Workshop on the supply chain for metals, together with the Luxembourg Center for Logistics & Supply Chain Management (LCL) and the University of Luxembourg.

This unusual event brought together the academic world and the industrial world with a view to awakening students’ interest in the problems and challenges of our sector.

EUROMETAL President Fernando Espada explained the role played by Stockholding and SSC distribution in the steel supply chain and the market shares of both compared to direct deliveries from the mills.

The workshop proceeded with a presentation on Emission allowance trading by prof. dr. Nils Löhndorf from the LCL and an Arcelormittal presentation on logistics in supplying industrial units with raw materials and shipments of finished products by Functional Head Transport & Logistics Flat Europe manager, David De Rocker.

The second session started with a CFL Multimodal presentation on seamless and sustainable mode of transport across Europe, uttered by ​Chief Commercial Officer, Sven Löffler. This was followed by the ​challenges related to the transport of metals by road and waterways presented by Gilles Braquet, Head of Operations at Luxport and Deputy Managing Director at Lorang.

​Sustainability in transport and logistics were also addressed by Luc Haesaerts from Haesaerts Intermodal that has presented us with concrete results based on ecological investments over the last 5 years.

The workshop was concluded with presentation by prof. Benny Mantin of an ongoing study being prepared by LCL for the Luxembourg Ministry of Economy entitled Etude Risk 2050. This study seeks to analyze the vulnerability of the national economy to physical risks like climate change, resource scarcity and biodiversity loss.

The interactions during and after the presentations demonstrated the value and interest of the workshop and also the need to share good practices and information between the different players in the supply chain. Especially at a time when we all have to paddle towards decarbonisation, with all the challenges that this will entail.

This event would not have been possible without the support of our sponsor Marinho Steel Trading, but also the Luxembourg Center for Logistics & Supply Chain Management and the University of Luxembourg who welcomed us in their facilities on Campus Kirchberg.