No significant price change has been seen in the flats market in the EU over the past week, but, while supply of CRC is considered to be a bit tight, based on the recently announced import limitation, in the HRC segment with the official offers being stable the mills’ targets have not been met fully by buyers, at least not yet.
In Italy, while the targeted levels have been voiced since last week at €750/mt ex-works, the reality is that deals are scarce and for now most deals are not exceeding €720-730/mt, with rare deals barely touching €740/mt ex-works. In Spain, with ArcelorMittal aiming at €790/mt and closing at €750-760/mt delivered maximum, other mills are offering at €750/mt ex-works, with deals being done at €735-740/mt delivered, SteelOrbis understands. In the northern countries of the EU, while the targets are up to €760-770/mt ex-works, the reality is closer to €735-740/mt FCA/delivered still. However, few have doubts regarding the uptrend in the EU. “Once the inventories from old prices are finished, they [domestic buyers] will not have much choice but to accept local prices, since imports are quite limited at the moment,” a market source commented to SteelOrbis.
In the import HRC segment, few offers are heard on CFR basis since buyers are cautious and would like to avoid risks as much as possible. According to sources, following deals from India for sizeable volumes at $680-690/mt CFR, some new offers have been voiced at $720/mt CFR, which is considered too high under the current market conditions. Turkey has been offering at around €550/mt CFR (with no AD duty included) while on US dollar basis offers have been reported at $630-650/mt CFR depending on the buyer, in line with last week’s levels. In the DDP segment, ex-Taiwan offers have been reported at €730/mt DDP Bilbao, while Turkey is offering at €710-720/mt DDP and Japan has been standing at €740/mt DDP, sources reported.
In the CRC and coated steel segments, the market situation has been roughly unchanged over the week in the domestic market, with CRC being priced at €850-880/mt and up to €890-920/mt ex-works across the EU. While the workable levels are at the lower end of the range, some sources report the supply of CRC in the market is somewhat tight. In the HDG segment, local prices have been maintained at €850-870/mt and up to €880/mt ex-works in some cases.
In the import segment, CRC from South Korea has been on offer at €880/mt DDP, while India has been voicing $810-820/mt CFR. Offers from Vietnam for 0.5 mm Z100 material have been at $860/mt CFR, while on DDP basis the same origin has been on offer at €920/mt, SteelOrbis has heard.
Author: SteelOrbis Editorial Team
