Tradeable values were reported by buyers and sellers at €560-590 ($580-611) per tonne ex-works on Tuesday, depending on a supplier and lead times.
“There are no major changes in the market since the end of last year,” a buyer in Germany said.
Mill sources said that a pick-up in trading before the holiday closures has allowed them to improve their order books.
“A lot of customers booked [HRC] in December to secure lower prices,” a second buyer in Germany said.
“The market at least is still pretty dormant,” a mills source in Northern Europe said. “But booking levels are ok here; almost sold out for the first quarter[-delivery] coil,” the second buyer added.
But higher offers of €610-630 per tonne ex-works were not yet sealed in deals and most buyer sources deemed such levels unworkable.
“Too early to say if higher offers will be accepted, but so far market fundamentals are not favorable,” a steel service center source in Northern Europe said.
As a result, Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe at €565.83 per tonne on Tuesday, unchanged day on day.
The index was also by €0.83 per tonne week on week and by €1.66 per tonne month on month.
Fastmarkets calculated its corresponding daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy at €562.50 per tonne on Tuesday, unchanged compared with the previous calculation on Monday.
The index was also stable week on week, but up by €2.08 per tonne month on month.
The Italian market was also quiet on Tuesday, with no major changes reported.
“The market has just restarted after holidays; we expect more clarity [on prices] in the next days,” a third buyer source said.
Tradable values were estimated by buyers at €560-570 per tonne ex-works, depending on the supplier.
The market for imported coil was also quiet.
Two sources reported offers from India for March-shipment HRC at €540-550 per tonne CFR.
One buyer reported an offer from Turkey at €560 per tonne CFR, including the anti-dumping duty.
Buyers estimated tradeable values for imports at €520-530 per tonne CFR. No such offers, however, were reported on Tuesday.
