Steel hot-rolled coil prices in Northern Europe and Italy edged higher on Monday September 28, although trading activity remained subdued in both markets amid cautious buying, sources told Fastmarkets.
In Northern Europe, market participants reported an absence of fresh bookings at the start of the week, with high stock levels keeping distributors and steel service centers on the sidelines.
A buyer source reported mill offers quoted within €760-770 ($866-877) per tonne ex-works, but characterized these targets as unreasonable.
“There is absolutely no activity. This is just wishful thinking from the mills,” the source said.
As a result, those offers were discarded from the daily index calculation.
The same buyer pegged workable levels at €740-750 per tonne ex-works, noting that €750 per tonne represented the absolute ceiling for any negotiations under current conditions.
A seller source also indicated realistic workable levels at €740-750 per tonne ex-works.
“The stock overhang in the market is still pretty large, and that takes more time to get cleared out. It obviously reduces the need for fresh steel from mills or from imports,” the seller source told Fastmarkets. “It remains a bit of a wait-and-see situation.”
Consequently, Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe was calculated at €745 per tonne on Monday September 28, up by €3.33 per tonne from €741.67 per tonne on Friday September 25.
The index was unchanged week on week and up by €3.75 per tonne month on month.
In Italy, trading activity remained constrained by cautious downstream buying.
A buyer source indicated workable price levels within €730-745 per tonne ex-works.
“This is the limit that mills have reached. It will be difficult to further increase the prices,” the buyer told Fastmarkets.
A seller source indicated achievable levels slightly higher, at €740-750 per tonne ex-works.
As a result, Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy was calculated at €741.25 per tonne on Monday September 28, up by €3.75 per tonne from €737.50 per tonne on Friday September 25.
The index was up by €7.50 per tonne week on week and by €23.75 per tonne month on month.
