New steel safeguard measures, imposed by the European Commission, have limited the interest of the European buyers to purchase imported material. Thus, buyers continued to rely on the domestic mills to cover their needs, Fastmarkets understands.
This put the European producers in a stronger position to push for higher offers. ArcelorMittal announced increased prices for flat steel products across Europe on Tuesday.
The move also affected the HDG prices, with ArcelorMittal’s latest offers for the material in Northern and Southern Europe heard at €820 ($894) per tonne ex-works or delivered, depending on the region, Fastmarkets understands.
Two weeks ago, the highest offers of HDG in Northern Europe had hovered around €780-800 per tonne ex-works, but no transactions at those levels were reported. Offer prices in Italy were slightly lower, at €730-750 per tonne ex-works.
According to industry sources, the upward trend with the domestic HDG prices could be felt now also in the Southern European market.
“All suppliers are fully booked for May and offer June/July delivery material at €810-820 per tonne delivered (€800-810 per tonne ex-works),” a distributor source from the Iberian market told Fastmarkets.
“These levels are high, but there are not many alternatives from imports because of the new safeguard measures,” the source added.
Italy-origin HDG was offered to Germany at €780 per tonne delivered, up by €20 per tonne compared to the previous available price level, Fastmarkets heard.
But buyers’ estimations for the tradeable market levels of HDG for both Southern and Northern Europe remained lower, at €740-760 per tonne ex-works.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel hot-dipped galvanized coil domestic, exw Northern Europe was €740-760 per tonne on Wednesday, up by €10 per tonne from €730-750 per tonne on March 26.
And Fastmarkets’ price assessment for steel hot-dipped galvanized coil domestic, exw Southern Europe also stood at €740-760 per tonne on Wednesday, up by €10 per tonne from €730-750 per tonne on March 26.
Regarding imports, Asian suppliers were heard offering 1mm HDG with Z100-120 coating to Southern Europe at €740-750 per tonne CFR, but the interest in such material remained low due to the trade risks and the long delivery time, Fastmarkets understands.
Julia Bolotova in Brussels contributed to this report.
