Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe at €632.00 ($677) per tonne on Tuesday, up slightly by €2.42 per tonne from €629.58 per tonne on Monday.
The index was up by €6.58 per tonne week on week but down by €31.75 per tonne month on month.
European steelmakers were testing the market with higher offers for June-delivery HRC, but higher prices were not sealed in deals.
Notably, an integrated mill in Benelux area was reportedly planning to increase offers from €640 per tonne ex-works to €660 per tonne ex-works for June-delivery HRC.
Another major producer was aiming for €650-660 per tonne ex-works for June-delivery coil.
At the same time, deals were still reported at lower prices — in Germany, a sale of limited-size tonnage was heard at €630 per tonne ex-works earlier this week.
In general, buyers’ estimates of tradeable values were heard within €620-640 per tonne ex-works, but the lower end of the range was reportedly not accepted by mills.
“Even if you bid for bigger [HRC] tonnage, mills are reluctant to give discounts — they clearly signal to the market that lower prices are not available anymore,” a buyer in Germany said.
Sources noted slightly improved apparent buying in the past couple of weeks due to some limited restocking, but real demand was still subdued, so sources were unconvinced about the sustainability of the uptrend.
In Southern Europe, Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy was calculated at €627.25 per tonne on Tuesday, increasing by €2.25 per tonne from €625.00 per tonne on Monday.
The index was up by €7.25 per tonne week on week but down by €17.75 per tonne month on month.
Offers for HRC with four-to-five-week lead times from local suppliers were at €660-670 per tonne delivered (€650-660 per tonne ex-works), compared with €640-650 per tonne delivered (€630-640 per tonne ex-works) in early April.
But tradeable values were estimated by buyers at no higher than €630-640 per tonne delivered (€620-630 per tonne ex-works).
A transaction was reported at €630 per tonne delivered (€620 per tonne ex-works) for June-delivery HRC on Tuesday.
“Real demand is still weak, while apparent demand improved a bit due to restocking at rock-bottom prices in the second half of April,” a steel service center in Italy said.
“The recent move to increase [HRC] prices indicates the downtrend is over and helps to stabilize the market, but so far buyers are not ready to pay higher prices,” a distributor in Italy said.
In the secondary market, 4 mm HR sheet was traded at €700-740 per tonne CPT from local suppliers and at €690-700 per tonne CPT from a Central European mill.
Import offers for HRC have increased recently, making overseas coil purchases less attractive for European buyers. This was also supportive for domestic prices to increase.
In general, prices for Asia-origin HRC for June-July shipment were consolidating around €600-620 per tonne CFR.
Published by: Julia Bolotova
