European HRC prices stable to slightly weaker in quiet market

European hot-rolled coil prices were stable to slightly weaker in a silent market on Friday October 7, with buyers postponing their purchases amid overstocking and poor demand from end sectors.
Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel HRC index, domestic, ex-works Northern Europe at €735.00 ($724.57) per tonne on Friday, down by €2.50 per tonne from €737.50 per tonne on Thursday.

Friday’s calculation of the index was down by €16.67 per tonne week on week and by €35.00 per tonne month on month.

Buyer’s indications of achievable prices were reported at €720-750 per tonne exw, while transactions and official offers from mills were sparse in the market.

“There is no point in giving any offer – buyers are not in the market to buy, activity is zero. We are just talking the price down if we give any indications,” a mill source said.

“There’s just no demand, so mills can offer anything, but no orders are coming,” a trading source said.

Fastmarkets’ calculation of its daily steel HRC index domestic, exw Italy was €730.00 per tonne on Friday, down by €5.00 per tonne from €735.00 per tonne on Thursday.

The latest calculation of the Italian index is down by €28.75 per tonne week on week and by €31.67 per tonne month on month.

Trading activity was also minimal in the nation despite mills being prepared to offer discounts for larger tonnages.

“The market is totally dead and stocks are high at buyers. The price doesn’t really matter now. And no upturn can be expected in the next three to four weeks,” a buyer in Italy said.

Imports

Most buyers in Italy agreed that the workable price for overseas coil would be below €700 per tonne cfr.

Even though most import HRC coil was offered below €700 per tonne cfr, buying interest for imports was quite limited due to a lack of end-user demand, overstocking and lack of a clear outlook, sources said.

Offers from Japan of HRC for delivery to Italy early in the first quarter of 2023 were reported at €670 per tonne cfr – slightly lower week on week.

Offers from Taiwan and South Korea were reported at €680-690 per tonne cfr.

Meanwhile, HRC offers from Turkey were reported at €700-710 per tonne cfr, with Turkish mills able to offer end-of-fourth-quarter delivery.

There was a market chatter about 20,000-30,000 tonnes of HRC sales from Egypt to Italy earlier this week at around €690-700 per tonne cfr. The details were not revealed before the time of publication, however.

But most Italian buyers were not seeking tonnages for the fourth quarter because of the high stocks on hand and the risk of exceeding European Union import safeguard quotas, according to sources.

Published by: Julia Bolotova