According to industry sources, mills in the region offered October-delivery hot-rolled coil at €630-640 ($696-707) per tonne ex-works. HRC offers at prices lower than that for September-October delivery were reported in Germany at €610-620 per tonne ex-works.
Buyers estimated workable prices in the range of €590-620 per tonne ex-works.
Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe at €612.08 per tonne on Tuesday, up by €1.58 per tonne from €610.50 per tonne the previous day.
But the index was down by €4.17 per tonne week on week and by €16.50 per tonne month on month.
“The market is still quiet. Nothing serious is happening,” a buyer source told Fastmarkets.
A second buyer source said that the prices for HRC in Northern Europe have reached such low levels that some production cuts might be necessary.
Meanwhile, in Southern Europe, Fastmarkets calculated its corresponding daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Italy at €607.50 per tonne on Tuesday, unchanged from the previous day.
The index was down by €7.50 per tonne week on week and by €12.92 per tonne month on month.
Summer vacations continued in Italy, with many market participants still not active, trade sources told Fastmarkets.
The situation will become clearer next week when most market participants return from the holidays, Fastmarkets understands.
The most recent offers were heard at the end of July at €640-650 per tonne delivered, which would net back to €630-640 per tonne ex-works.
Buyer sources estimated the workable price to be €590-620 per tonne ex-works.
In terms of imports, Chinese hot-rolled coil was heard offered in Southern Europe at €540 per tonne CFR, including anti-dumping duty. According to industry sources, this price was available for large volumes.
This was quite low, even compared with offers from Vietnam that were among the most competitive in the market, Fastmarkets heard.
Vietnamese HRC was heard offered at €560-570 per tonne CFR last week.
