Some steelmakers in Northwest Europe continued to hold back offers, claiming to have good order books and due to effects from planned maintenances at furnaces. Others, however, have been offering competitive prices as they either still have August rolling coil and need to generate sales, or they have lower production costs.
“Some mills understand that they cannot buy demand that does not exist with cheap material and others just ruin the market due to empty order books and equipment restart,” a German service center said.
“The mills are not active, but they try to communicate to the buyers that they will increase prices,” a Northwest European service center said. “But I am not sure that they would achieve much, even if we see the traditional price rise in September.”
European flat steel prices traditionally pick up in late August-September after both buyers and sellers return to the market after summer lull.
Platts assessed domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northwest Europe at Eur660/mt ex-works Ruhr on July 18, unchanged on the day.
The assessment was based at tradable values heard at Eur650-670/mt ex-works Ruhr and at Eur640-650/mt ex-works Benelux.
Platts assessed domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in South Europe also stable on the day at Eur655/mt ex-works Italy on July 18.
Offers have been reported at Eur680-700/mt ex-works Italy, tradable values have been reported at Eur670-690/mt delivered Italy and an unconfirmed deal has been heard at Eur610-620/mt ex-works Italy.
