In the overall push-and-shove on the coil market in northwestern Europe, cold-rolled coil recently has been named frequently by market players as the product that is hardest to obtain.
“The lack of cold-rolled material stands out in fact, and prices here risen even faster than for hot-rolled,” a Dutch manager tells Kallanish. One German buyer tells of an offer from Italy for CRC of €1,260/tonne delivered ($1,529/t), some €50/t more than for hot-dip galvanized by the same supplier. “I was surprised myself to hear that; cold-rolled seems to be more scarce,” he says.
A source from a major distribution group confirms the trend of increasing tightness, but admits that he cannot really explain the causes behind it.
“It may have to do with the position of CRC as an intermediate product, which gets forwarded to be galvanized in the automotive industry, so that it can’t be found pure very much these days,” he speculates.
The price indication from Italy is one of few available at all at the moment. All northwestern European integrated mills have basically left the market and do not offer volumes for this year any more. According to the source, offers can only be had from eastern Europe, which benefits from the withdrawal of Turkey from exporting, and Italy. Delivery can still occur at the end of the third, or early in the fourth quarter. Still, offers from either direction are by no means abundant.
Christian Koehl Germany
