A steel producer in Northern Europe was said to be offering HRC at €650 ($695) per tonne ex-works on Monday, in contrast to the beginning of last week, when offer prices were mostly around €630-640 per tonne ex-works, sources told Fastmarkets.
And most market participants now expect the mills raise their offer prices again.
Last Friday, sources told Fastmarkets that one leading European steelmaker was planning to raise its offer prices by €30 per tonne for June-delivery material., with the news offers expected to be around €660-680 per tonne ex-works.
But there was no official confirmation about the price hike on Monday.
Northern European buyers, however, refrained from buying HRC, and no major deals were heard in the market.
Market participants estimated the tradable level for HRC in Northern Europe at €620-630 per tonne ex-works.
Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe at €629.58 on Monday, edging down by €0.84 per tonne from €630.42 per tonne on Friday.
The index was up by €4.16 per tonne week on week but down by €34.17 per tonne month on month.
In Southern Europe, Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy was calculated at €625.00 per tonne on Monday, increasing by €4.37 per tonne from €620.63 per tonne on Friday.
The index was up by €5.83 per tonne week on week but down by €20 per tonne month on month.
Suppliers in Italy were offering HRC at €650-660 per tonne ex-works on Monday, sources told Fastmarkets. In contrast, in early April, the same material was offered at €630-640 per tonne ex-works.
But buyers remained reluctant to accept Monday’s level, and trading was limited.
And market participants estimated the tradable level at €620-630 per tonne ex-works.
Activity in the Italian market was slow at the end of last week due to public holidays in the country and a buyer source told Fastmarkets that this week and next would give a better indication of whether the new, higher prices would be accepted.
Two other buyer sources expressed skepticism, however, and pointed to the fact that real steel demand remains weak.
Among the reasons for the current attempt by mills to raise HRC prices was the increase in the price of Asian HRC being offered to Europe.
On Monday, HRC from Taiwan, Japan and India was on offer at €600-620 per tonne CFR Italy – slightly higher than last week’s €590-600 per tonne CFR, sources said.