Considerable price hikes for coil products from the northwestern European market leader have not caused a big stir among buyers yet. They maintain a reserved attitude, prefer to wait rather than buy, and point at the unwillingness of their customers to accept these hikes.
New prices heard in the market last week were confirmed this week by the mill to Kallanish at €820/tonne ($914/t) for hot-rolled coil, delivered, €900/t for hot-dip galvanized, and €940 for cold-rolled coil.
One trader finds it extremely hard to predict the actual demand of the next months that would justify such increases. “Stockholders want low inventories at year-end, and the question is, will there be a refill rally at the beginning of next year? And nobody can seriously tell,” he says.
Similar doubts are expressed by Scandinavian and German buyers, especially when it comes to handing the rises down. “We cannot push it through to our customers,” the Scandinavia states flatly.
On Dutch manager estimates that a premium of €30/t can be achieved until year-end, if taking a recent level of €760/t for HRC. But those regional sources find that this level has been passed now and see the price at €770/t and above.
Its possible that the announcement will suppress activity even more for a while, and lock buyers in their wait-and-see mode.
“The spot price for January/February delivery is only about to take shape,” one German service centre manager says. “I am certainly not shouting out loud that I want to buy,” he adds. “So, I am waiting for them to come knocking, but they have not come yet.”
