“There have been no deals in recent days. The more I try to push buyers, the more they run,” a trader said.
“I think we are going to have a very dark summer in steel markets,” he added.
Customers’ estimates of theoretical workable prices for HRC in Northern Europe varied within the range of €615-625 ($700-712) per tonne ex-works on Tuesday.
Sources on producers’ side reported their estimates at €630-640 per tonne ex-works earlier this week, which was considered totally unworkable for the majority of buyers.
Several trader sources said they expected prices in Northern Europe to reach around €600 per tonne by the end of June, while others believed the downtrend would persist for longer.
“The situation in Europe will deteriorate dramatically after July 1, amid the implementation of new duties in the US. I [believe] that the price [for HRC in Europe] will drop,” a source said.
In Italy, sources also reported weak demand, and no fresh bookings were heard on Tuesday.
Sources on both buyers’ and sellers’ sides reported estimates of workable prices varying within the range of €580-610 per tonne ex-works, depending on the tonnage.
This is when earlier assessments of workable price for decent tonnages did not go below €590 per tonne ex-works and official offers came at €620.
Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Italy was calculated at €596.67 per tonne on Tuesday, down by 0.35% from €598.75 on Monday June 2.
Offers of Indonesian HRC were heard within the range of €520-530 per tonne CFR in Italy.
In Northern Europe, Indonesian material was available at €550 per tonne CFR. Some unconfirmed offers of Indian HRC came at €534 per tonne CFR. And Chinese HRC was reported available around €550 per tonne CFR including anti-dumping duties.
Sources reported no interest even in imported material, citing low real demand.
Published by: Vlada Novokreshchenova
