European hot-rolled coil producers are aiming for higher prices and reduced supply in the region could support the uptrend, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday January 9.
European mills are offering HRC with early March delivery to the market, several sources told Fastmarkets.
But buyers are expecting delays to deliveries due to the output cuts announced by many European mills during the fourth quarter of 2022.
Meanwhile, stocks at distributors are trending lower.
“The stock situation is much better compared with the last quarter of 2022. In fact, some steel service centers are complaining about the shortage of some positions [of HRC],” one distributor in Northern Europe told Fastmarkets.
Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel HRC index, domestic, exw Northern Europe at €707.50 ($752.99) per tonne on Monday, up by €38.33 per tonne from €669.17 per tonne on Friday.
The latest calculation is up by €38.75 per tonne week on week and up by €80.25 per tonne month on month.
Market activity is slowly restarting after a holiday break, with participants expecting more clarity on prices acceptance in the coming days.
“It looks like the buyers’ market is turning into a sellers’ market,” a steel service center source in Northern Europe said.
Indications of tradable values from most buyers were reported close to €700 per tonne EXW. One trading source estimated at €660 per tonne EXW, but sources largely agreed that mills in the region were no longer accepting such a low price.
Offers for March-delivery coil from mills in the region were heard at €700-730 per tonne EXW on Monday.
Notably, ArcelorMittal announced offers for March-delivery HRC at €760 per tonne delivered across Europe, which nets back to about €730-730 per tonne EXW.
Market sources called the offer price “realistic” for now, but pointed out that the market has just resumed after a long holiday and it was too soon to say if the uptrend was sustainable.
Fastmarkets’ calculation of its daily steel HRC index, domestic, exw Italy was at €689.17 per tonne on Monday, up from €652.50 per tonne on Friday.
The latest calculation was up by €36.67 per tonne week on week and up by €67.92 per tonne month on month.
The Italian market is also slowly restarting after the holiday break. But sources largely believe a price rise will be fixed in deals due to improving demand and reduced supply amid output cuts.
Tradeable values were reported at €680-700 per tonne EXW on Monday.
Published by: Julia Bolotova
