European hot-rolled coil market takes holiday breather from bearish trend

The European hot-rolled coil markets remained quiet due to holidays Nov. 1, with tradable levels seen stable on the day.

In Northern Europe, market participants viewed the Eur650/mt price level as well-established, ex-works Ruhr, despite an ongoing lack of transactional activity.

Buyers remain largely out of the market, sources said, adding that they were still suffering from high levels of expensive stock purchased earlier in the year and unable to deplete inventories at usual rates due to poor end-user consumption.

Tradable value indications were heard lower on the day, with some expecting prices as low as Eur620/mt ex-works Northern Europe could be settled with larger buyers.

Indeed, buy-side sources expected prices to continue to decline, even into the Eur500s, as demand has little reason to pick up in the near term with most distributors rejecting any intention to restock before the year’s close.

In Italy, sources reported tradable value in a range of Eur650-660/mt ex-works, with the Platts assessment stable at the mid-point, Eur655/mt ex-works Italy.

Platts is part of S&P Global Commodity Insights.

— Benjamin Steven