Domestic steel hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices in Northern Europe and Italy were steady on Friday July 10. While mills pushed for higher September delivery prices, trading was limited. Recent confirmed deals fell below offer levels, indicating buyers were unwilling to accept the proposed increases, sources told Fastmarkets.
In Northern Europe, trading was quiet throughout the day. Sources reported offers at €730-740 ($835-846) per tonne ex-works for September delivery, but these were generally viewed as unworkable in the current market.
A buyer source indicated achievable levels at €700-710 per tonne ex-works, saying that the increase to €740 per tonne ex-works was “too big.” The source added, however, that HRC import prices had risen rapidly after the reduced EU steel import quotas came into force on July 1.
The same source said they had heard offers for imported HRC into Northern Europe at €640 per tonne CFR but could not confirm the origin. Market participants reported the latest offers for imported material into the region at €610 per tonne CFR from Egypt on Wednesday.
As a result, Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel hot-rolled coil import, cfr main port Northern Europe was €530-610 per tonne on Wednesday, widening upward by €10 per tonne from €530-600 per tonne a week earlier.
“Customers don’t know what to do because there is still enough material in the market,” the buyer source said regarding local HRC, adding that buyers would still need to replenish stocks for the fourth quarter, but it was still unclear whether demand would improve.
A producer source said that offers at €740 per tonne ex-works “might be high”, but added that they were confident buyers “will be ready to pay more in September-October.”
But the latest deals for September shipment were reported at €710 per tonne ex-works on Thursday, and no activity has been confirmed at higher levels yet. As a result, Fastmarkets did not consider the offers at €730-740 per tonne ex-works in Friday’s index calculation.
Due to a lack of fresh input, price points collected on Thursday were carried over to Friday’s index calculation, in line with Fastmarkets’ methodology.
On Thursday, an indication of the tradeable level for September-delivery HRC was reported at €700 per tonne ex-works. Offers for the same period were heard at €740 per tonne ex-works alongside the mentioned deal at €710 per tonne ex-works, but the offer was zero tonnaged due to the lack of buying interest at that level.
On Thursday, a buyer told Fastmarkets that demand in the market remained limited, there were no urgent purchasing requirements and inventories were sufficient to cover needs through the summer holiday period.
Price points exceeding the delivery timeframe of “up to 6 weeks” stated in Fastmarkets’ methodology were added to the index due to the absence of material with earlier delivery offered in the market.
Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe was calculated at €705.00 per tonne on Friday, unchanged day on day.
The index was up by €10 per tonne week on week and up by €18.33 per tonne month on month.
Meanwhile, in Italy, no fresh price points were received during the day because market participants were largely inactive. As a result, Thursday prices were carried over to Friday’s index calculation.
On Thursday, sources reported offers in the range of €685-705 per tonne ex-works for September delivery, while indications for achievable levels were heard at €685-690 per tonne ex-works and bids at €670-680 per tonne ex-works.
“We’ve increased offer prices for HRC with September delivery to €700 base [per tonne] exw. Customers’ idea is clearly not there yet; they try to not confirm anything higher than €670-680 base [per tonne] exw. [It] might be that the real picture will take longer to crystallize,” another producer source said on Thursday.
A buyer said on Thursday that if consumers needed to purchase material, they would have to accept higher offers of around €705 per tonne ex-works because there were few alternatives available in the market.
As a result, Fastmarkets’ assessment of the daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy was €692.81 per tonne on Friday, unchanged day on day.
The index was up by €16.14 per tonne week on week and up by €7.81 per tonne month on month.
