The recent stabilization of the European hot-rolled coil market continued on Friday June 30, with limited restocking expected in the first half of July, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe was calculated at €674.10 ($734.14) per tonne on Friday, up by just €1.37 per tonne from €672.73 per tonne on Thursday.
The latest calculation of the Northern European index was up by €0.80 per tonne week on week but down by €74.03 per tonne month on month.
Despite the recent stabilization of HRC prices in Europe in the past week, buyers have remained cautious about making bookings.
“We are getting many more inquiries this week [the week ending Friday], but those do not result in deals; it looks like buyers are just testing the pulse of the market,” a producer source in the region said.
Buyers’ estimations of tradeable values varied between €660 and €700 per tonne EXW, while rare offers were heard at closer to €700 per tonne EXW.
Mills in Northern Europe were offering August/September-delivery coil, while some suppliers from Central Europe still had July-delivery material available, sources said.
Italy-origin coil was sold to Germany at €690 per tonne CPT during the week to Friday, sources said.
HRC from Central Europe was on offer to Northern Europe at around €680-695 per tonne CPT.
Sources said they expect buyers will come back to the market for some limited restocking in the first half of July, with prices likely to stabilize.
“No chance for a rebound so far, demand [from the end-user side] is still rather slow. And there is plenty of steel arriving from imports,” a trading source said.
HRC offers from Asia were heard at €620-630 per tonne CFR to Antwerp on Friday, mainly for September-shipment already.
Fastmarkets calculated its corresponding daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy at €650.00 per tonne on Friday, up by just €1.25 per tonne from €648.75 per tonne on Thursday.
The Italian index was, however, down by €3.75 per tonne week on week and by €30.63 per tonne month on month.
Italian integrated producers and re-rollers were aiming for higher prices for August/September-delivery HRC, notably of €670-700 per tonne EXW, but had no success so far due to limited demand.
Actual sales prices were still around €640-650 per tonne EXW, which was rather stable over the past week.
Sources in Italy also said they expect some limited restocking in the first half of July.
Import offers were limited in the week to Friday, with some suppliers seen to be out of the market.
September-shipment coil from Japan was offered to Italy at $680 per tonne CFR.
Vietnam- and Taiwan-origin HRC were offered to Italy at similar levels — €615-620 per tonne CFR — with Vietnamese suppliers reportedly having some end-August shipments available.
Published by: Julia Bolotova
