European hot-rolled coil prices move up on firmer mill offers
European hot-rolled coil increased Aug. 31 on firmer offers by European mills that want to use momentum from the start of restocking after the summer holidays, sources told S&P Global Commodity Insights.
While the bigger economic sentiment, particularly in Germany, remains negative, short- to mid-term sentiment turned more optimistic as inquiries continued to increase.
Several European mills are trying to enforce Eur700/mt EXW Ruhr or delivered Northern Europe. Workable levels reported remain lower, but buy-side sources said it would be getting difficult to get material below Eur670/mt EXW Ruhr on the spot market from mills in the region.
One Benelux buyer reported achieving Eur635/mt EXW Ruhr for 2,000 mt, but repeatability of the deal could not be confirmed by the end of assessment day at 4.30 pm London time.
Also, the Italian market started to see higher workable levels with reports of Eur640-650/mt EXW Italy for HRC from several buyers.
“Margins are below par in the steel industry at the moment, so either raw materials are decreasing or prices move up,” a Northern European mill source said.
However, sources said actual buying had not started in the Italian market and purchasing is expected to start the following week.
The mills’ announcements on the European mainland were also heard in the UK market, though UK buyers said they were still waiting to receive revised offers for imports ex-EU.
Platts assessed HRC EXW Ruhr up Eur5/mt day on day at Eur670/mt Aug. 31, while Platts assessed HRC EXW Italy at Eur640/mt, up Eur5/mt day on day.
Author Laura Varriale
Turkey’s scrap imports surge in July
Following three months of consecutive declines, Turkish scrap imports recovered in July, surging 37.3% on-year to 1.89 million tonnes, according to Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) data monitored by Kallanish. They were also up from 1.73mt in May and 1.22mt in June.
Over 99%, or 1.877mt, of the July imports were obsolete scrap. The average price of this scrap was $396/tonne, down from $463/t in July 2022 and $422.5/t in June 2023.
| Country | July 2023 | July 2022 | Change (tonnes) |
| USA | 620,092 | 379,281 | +240,811 |
| Netherlands | 185,523 | 106,932 | +78,591 |
| UK | 145,201 | 157,621 | -12,420 |
| Belgium | 141,707 | 108,049 | +33,658 |
| Lithuania | 114,914 | 66,043 | +48,871 |
| Romania | 105,064 | 68,615 | +36,449 |
| Germany | 82,598 | 26,695 | +55,903 |
| Russia | 73,548 | 24,488 | +49,060 |
| Venezuela | 72,128 | 86,081 | -13,953 |
| France | 64,332 | 49,807 | +14,525 |
| Libya | 39,854 | 8,879 | +30,975 |
| Italy | 33,789 | 21,532 | +12,257 |
Denmark, which supplied 96,691t last year, provided only 29,109t in July.
In January-July, Turkey’s overall scrap imports fell 16.9% on-year to 11.52mt. The US, with 2,609,413t, was by far the largest supplier, followed by the Netherlands and Belgium.
Meanwhile, Turkish rebar exports more than halved to 1.70mt in January-July (see Kallanish passim).
Burcak Alpman Turkey
Plate market still slow in NW Europe
Activity in the northwestern European plate market remains in suspended animation, according to sources from the buyers’ and the sellers’ sides. And they are unanimous that a silver lining is not on the horizon.
“There is no move to be seen anywhere. It is really very awkward,” a German buyer tells Kallanish. Prices have not moved in the course of the summer once they settled at around €850/tonne ($922) for S355 ex-works.
Mills might not want to sell for less because the floor price for any profitability is already reached, one mill source says. He concedes that “we sell very little,” especially in an environment of low-priced offers from various countries.
From Poland, offers of around €780/t ex-works are reported, a level that is on par with the prices in Italy. However, orders from either would have to add transport costs of easily €50-60, bringing them closer to the northwestern domestic prices. This is evident in offers from a southeastern European of €870/t delivered Ruhr, pretty much on par with the domestic prices.
Overseas imports make little difference. “I have just received an offer from India for €820 delivered to my warehouse,” a German stockholder says. He does not consider it attractive, as delivery would likely take until January, “and who knows where prices are then.” Lead times from EU domestic mills are eight weeks, he adds.
According to a northern source, “only very rare information about new prices is available; it seems the integrated mills are not yet really back to the market.”
Christian Koehl Germany
Antwerp port holds up against economic doldrums
The Port of Antwerp-Bruges in the first half of 2023 was able to hold its own in an environment of economic instability, it says in a press release received by Kallanish.
The total throughput of the port was 139 million tonnes of goods in the first six months of this year, a fall of 5.5% compared to the same period last year. While the global economic situation is causing a drop in demand for container transport, other cargo flows show a mixed picture.
Despite the weak economic climate, conventional breakbulk, which includes steel, is holding up quite well, the port states. Throughput volumes are in line with the pre-Covid-19 period, but down 17.2% compared to the same period in 2022. The port emphasises that last year showed exceptionally high throughput rates due to a strong post-Covid-19 recovery.
This year, the slowing economy is accompanied by a decline in demand for steel – the most important cargo group within the conventional breakbulk segment. Steel throughput, both import and export, decreased in total by 18%, to 3.93 million tonnes. Of the total, 2.39m tonnes were incoming shipping, while 1.54m t were exports.
Last year, the ports of Antwerp and Zebrugge merged to become one company. Steel transshipment in the port of Zeebrugge is virtually non-existent, though. All steel traffic takes place in Antwerp.
In the current unstable economic conditions, the port says it is gaining market share in container handling compared to the other ports in the Hamburg – Le Havre range.
Christian Koehl Germany
Italian car production continues to increase
Italian passenger car output confirmed its upward trend in June and in the first half of the year, Kallanish notes from preliminary data from local carmakers’ association Associazione Nazionale Filiera Industria Automobilistica (Anfia).
Italian car production increased year-on-year by 24.7% in the first six months of 2023 to 298,309 units. In June it spiked by 92.1% on-year to 54,960 cars. By comparison, Spanish car output in June grew by 1.1% to 189,283 cars and by 12.6% to 1 million units in January-June. German output also increased significantly in the first half by 32% to 2.2m units and by 31% to 389,900 cars in June. The UK also recorded increases, of 16.2% to 84,767 cars in June and 11.7% to 450,168 units in January-June, Anfia reveals.
Italian passenger car output hiked 6.6% y-o-y in full-year 2022 to 473,149 units. In 2021, Anfia registered 442,432 units produced in the country, and 451,718 units in 2020.
Italy has 23 car production plants. Spain has 17 plants, France 31 and Germany 42.
Natalia Capra France
New ceo appointed at ArcelorMittal Duisburg
ArcelorMittal Germany announces that Paul Teteroo will step down as ceo of the group’s Duisburg mill, to be replaced by Cem Kurutas as of 1 January 2024.
After nine years as ceo of the Duisburg long products site, Teteroo will assume a new position at the group’s headquarters in Luxembourg, Kallanish hears. For the remainder of this year, the ceo of ArcelorMittal Hamburg, Uwe Braun, will head operations at the Duisburg mill.
Kurutas has most recently served as vice president of Outokumpu Nirosta in Germany.
Christian Koehl Germany
Near-zero activity reported across Northern European long steel market
Industry participants have remained largely absent from the market because of summer closures across Europe. Mills across most of Europe are expected to reopen in the first week of September.
The few sources who had returned to market reported bearish sentiment regarding both demand and prices in the coming month.
“The market is very quiet. Mills are not expected to drop prices further unless scrap goes down also. They would rather stop production,” a trader source in Germany said.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was €575-605 ($627-659) per tonne on Wednesday, unchanged since July 19.
Seasonality and depressed demand also resulted in extremely quiet conditions in the Northern European rebar market. As a result, prices were unchanged.
At the same time, Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel wire rod (mesh quality), domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was €570-610 per tonne, flat since July 12.
European steel hollow sections market still quiet as summer holiday nears end
The market was silent due to the summer slow period, with market sources expecting poor consumption by the construction sector to continue to weigh on demand when the summer break ends in September.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel sections (medium), domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was €790-820 ($861-894) per tonne on Wednesday, unchanged week on week.
Similarly, the weekly price assessment for steel sections (medium), domestic, delivered Southern Europe, was also €790-820 per tonne on Wednesday, and also stable from a week earlier.
Weak construction consumption was also a concern in the hot-rolled coil feedstock market, with a strong September rebound in prices seen to be unlikely.
But HRC market participants said that there would be some need for restocking in September, which could put some upward pressure on the market.
Fastmarkets’ daily calculation of its steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was €650.21 per tonne on Wednesday, up by €7.50 per tonne compared with €642.71 per tonne a week earlier.
Steel HRC producers across Europe gradually raising offer prices
Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe at €650.00 ($708.30) per tonne on August 31, down by just €0.21 per tonne from the previous calculation of €650.21 per tonne on August 30.
The index was up by €6.25 per tonne week on week but down by €4.92 per tonne month on month.
In the week starting August 21, a major European steelmaker raised its offers to €700 per tonne ex-works for HRC with October lead times. In the current week, that offer price “became more generalized in Northern Europe,” a source in the market said.
Some other European mills were following the trend. Notably, one Central European producer announced offers of HRC for September-October delivery at €710 per tonne delivered.
Another mill in the same region was hoping to achieve €700 per tonne delivered for October-delivery coil.
German producers were not really active in the market, reporting delays in deliveries.
But another integrated mill in Northern Europe was reported to be selling October-delivery HRC at €650 per tonne ex-works, while for November-December it was hoping to achieve €680-700 per tonne ex-works.
Buyers’ estimates of tradeable prices in Northern Europe were still no higher than €640-650 per tonne ex-works. Insufficient end-user demand was the major obstacle to a price rebound, buyers said.
Fastmarkets’ calculation of its daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy was €635.00 per tonne on Thursday, down by €0.83 per tonne from €635.83 per tonne on August 30.
The Italy index was up by €1.67 per tonne week on week, but unchanged month on month.
The Italian market was still rather quiet, with buyers and mills expected to make a full return to the market in the week starting September 4.
Local producers were hoping to achieve €700 per tonne delivered (about €680-685 per tonne ex-works) in transactions for October-delivery HRC. But buyers did not believe such a large rise was possible, considering slow downstream sales and the difficulties that end-users would face to increase prices.
“Steel service centers are still selling cut-to-length HRC at no more than €740 per tonne delivered, so achieving €700 per tonne delivered for HRC would be a problem,” a trading source said.
Buyers’ ideas of tradeable values were still being reported at €630-640 per tonne ex-works, and they reported sales of September-delivery coil from one integrated mill in late August within that range.
Some trading sources suggested that €650-660 per tonne ex-works could be achieved for October-delivery coil amid a restocking drive. “[But the] price direction will become more clear [in the week starting September 4] when buyers gradually come back to the market,” a distributor said.
HRC import offers for October-November shipment to Europe were stable day on day on Thursday, within the range of €600-630 per tonne CFR to Italy from Asia and Turkey.
UK to maintain HRC trade barriers until 2027
The UK government confirmed this week that it will maintain the existing anti-dumping and countervailing measures on imports of HRC from China, Brazil, Iran and Russia at least until 2027.
Kallanish understands that the decision of the government follows the reccomendation of the local Trade Remedies Authority (TRA).
As a result, AD and countervailing measures against Chinese HRC will remain in place until 7 April 2027. AD duties against Russian, Brazilian and Iranian HRC will continue until 7 October 2027.
The government noted, also, that the existing ban on all imports from Russia remains in place and includes HRC. Similarly it confirmed the decision to revoke trade barriers on imports of Ukrainian HRC as “dumping of products from Ukraine was unlikely to recur, due to reduction in Ukraine’s production capacity and limits on the ability to export caused by the war with Russia.”
Emanuele Norsa Italy