“Apparent demand remains weak,” one buyer source told Fastmarkets.
Buyers continued to postpone restocking, waiting to see if prices would drop further still.
A second buyer source said that potential buyers had good inventory levels as well as some import tonnages awaiting customs clearance, implying that they were in no hurry to book new volumes of HRC.
In Northern Europe, some offers of HRC were heard in the range of €740-760 ($797-819) per tonne ex-works on Monday. But these levels were not said to be workable.
Sources estimated that tradable market levels varied in the range of €700-730 per tonne ex-works.
No major deals were heard in the market.
Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel HRC index domestic, exw Northern Europe at €725.00 per tonne on Monday, down by €7.13 per tonne from €732.13 on Friday February 16.
The index was down by €22.50 per tonne week on week and down by €19 per tonne month on month.
Fastmarkets calculated its corresponding daily steel HRC index domestic, exw Italy at €723.33 per tonne on Monday, decreasing by €7.50 per tonne from €730.83 per tonne on Friday.
The index was down by €24.17 per tonne week on week and down by €12.09 per tonne month on month.
HRC trading in the Italian spot market was also slow on Monday.
“[There is] no repurchasing attitude [in the market] even at the new prices due to the low demand and high stocks,” a third buyer source told Fastmarkets.
Local mills continued offering April-delivery material of around €750 per tonne delivered (€735-740 per tonne ex-works).
Sources estimated workable market levels in the range of €725-735 per tonne ex-works.
Some deals for small volumes were heard at €730 per tonne delivered, which nets back to around €715-720 per tonne ex-works.
Offers of imported HRC remained limited in the market. Some offers of Asian HRC were heard at €630-640 per tonne CFR to Italy. The Asian region is expected to become more active this week following the end of the Lunar New Year holidays.
Turkish mills reportedly offered April-shipment HRC at €670-680 per tonne CFR to Italy, with anti-dumping duties included.
Published by: Julia Bolotova, Darina Kahramanova
