In Northern Europe, trading remained sluggish, with a “no restocking” attitude being adopted by buyers, sources said.
An integrated mill in the Benelux region was offering July-August delivery HRC at €650 ($695) per tonne ex-works.
Mills in Germany were offering HRC at €640-650 per tonne delivered, sources said, which would net back to €630-640 per tonne ex-works, for July-August delivery.
A re-roller from the Benelux region was said to be offering August-delivery HRC at €620 per tonne ex-works.
A major European steelmaker, which had expected to be able to increase its offer prices, was said to have opted for a price rollover for July-August deliveries in the face of weak demand.
“The market has been stable for more than a month now and there are no fundamentals for a price increase, despite some attempts by mills [to increase prices],” a German buyer told Fastmarkets.
Sources estimated the tradable price at about €620-640 per tonne ex-works.
Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, at €633.75 ($678.04) per tonne on Monday, down by €1.25 per tonne from €635.00 per tonne on June 14.
The index was down by €1.00 per tonne week on week and by €4.58 per tonne month on month.
Fastmarkets calculated its corresponding daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Italy, at €630.63 per tonne on Monday, down by €1.25 per tonne from €631.88 per tonne on Friday.
The index was up by €0.63 per tonne week on week, but down by €2.29 per tonne month on month.
In the week to June 14, sources said one Italian integrated steel mill had raised its offer price for HRC by €30 per tonne, to about €680 per tonne delivered.
On Monday, however, most sources said that, for July-August delivery coil, that local supplier was still accepting €650 per tonne delivered (€640 per tonne ex-works).
“The move to announce a price increase to the market was [intended] to [promote] buying activity. There is no chance [of getting an additional] €30 [per tonne for HRC] in such a dull market,” a local buyer said.
Buyer estimates of tradable values for July-August delivery HRC were no higher than €630-635 per tonne delivered (€620-625 per tonne ex-works).
“A rollover [of the HRC price] for August delivery is the best-case scenario for mills,” a second buyer said. “There is no restocking activity.”
Prices for imported HRC have been largely flat on Monday so far.
Suppliers from South Korea and Taiwan were offering August-shipment HRC to Italy at €600-610 per tonne CFR.
“Practically all Asian imports consolidate around €600 [per tonne CFR] plus or minus a few euros,” a steel-service center source in Italy said, “but there is no interest due to new [EU import] safeguard rules.”
