“Mills want more money but can’t get it, and even if our customers’ stocks are on a lower level, they can still buy on short notice in the market,” said a German service center source. The same source also cited that due to the shorter-term nature of customer procurement in the current market, contracts for the second half of the year remained murky, with July too far out for discussions.
Discussing carbon-accounted steel, the same source said, “Nobody is willing to pay for it, but it is hard to ask for Eur200/mt of additional costs [for a certificate] when we are already negotiating over every Eur5/mt for the underlying steel price. It is too competitive between mills and service centres.”
A distributor source referred to quieter spot conditions, noting that “offers have disappeared, and buyers have stepped back. Our sales are at 20% of last year. There are no talks on prices, just quantities.”
The same source pointed toward rumors of reductions in offer levels from both domestic and Turkish mills, adding further downward pressure to the market, and that any potential support from high power prices or the new German Government would not be felt for some weeks.
However, despite the bearish pricing talks in the market, one mill source remained steadfast that prices and consumption were not rapidly falling, though they did concede that they had dropped prices slightly.
“There is no panic, and volumes for us are still there, but we are hoping for more market demand … The smaller parties are being squeezed out,” the source said.
Similarly, a southern European trader offered sideways expectations for prices, referring to supply-side pressure as lending support to domestic prices.
“We are not sure why people expect prices to drop; service centers aren’t buying imports, the exchange rate is going down, and key blast furnaces are out. We see no adjustments on prices,” the trader said.
Platts assessed HRC ex-works Italy at Eur620/mt stable day over day and HRC CIF Southern Europe at Eur525/mt, down Eur5 day over day.
Platts assessed HRC in Northwest Europe at Eur640/mt EXW Ruhr and Eur540/mt CIF Antwerp, both stable day over day.
