On Tuesday April 1, leading European steelmaker ArcelorMittal increased HRC prices by another €20 per tonne to €700 per tonne ex-works or delivered, Fastmarkets reported.
Later in the week, other suppliers followed the move with smaller increases, with offer prices for June-July delivery HRC in Northern Europe reported at €660-670 per tonne ex-works — in Germany and the Benelux area.
Buyers, however, estimated achievable prices at 640-650 per tonne ex-works.
“HR sheet prices are still too low to pay even €650 [per tonne ex-works] for HRC. We had a few weeks with a pick-up in orders, [but] now it’s getting quieter,” a German distributor said.
Another distributor source agreed that the current uptrend was not demand-driven, but mainly driven by trade defense measures.
“European mills are well-booked for the second quarter and import availability is limited due to safeguards and anti-dumping measures. It’s a sellers’ market now, so prices are likely to keep ticking up,” a second distributor said.
Sources, however, were worried about the long-term outlook, given the still-weak demand from key steel-using sectors and possible deterioration in demand from the already-struggling automotive sector, which is being impacted by Trump’s tariffs.
“So far, the volumes [of flat steel] taken by the automotive [sector] are not bad, but global markets remain unpredictable,” a mill source said.
Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe at €651.83 ($718.30) per tonne on Friday, up by €1.33 per tonne from €650.50 per tonne on Thursday April 3.
The Northern European index was up by €6.83 per tonne week on week and by €22.79 per tonne month on month.
Meanwhile, in Southern Europe, Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy was calculated at €627.50 per tonne on Friday, up by €2.50 per tonne from €625.00 per tonne on Thursday.
The index was up by €2.50 per tonne week on week and by €9.17 per tonne month on month.
HRC prices in Italy were not showing the same growth momentum as in Northern Europe lately, due to muted downstream demand and relatively high stocks at buyers, sources said.
The latest offers heard from Italian suppliers were at €630-650 per tonne ex-works, but buyers were still estimating the tradable market level at €620-630 per tonne ex-works, sources told Fastmarkets.
However, a major supplier withdrew offers from the market on Thursday and was expected to come back with higher prices shortly, sources said.
In the secondary market, 4 mm HR sheet was on offer at €700-720 per tonne CPT, and sales were “not booming.”
Overseas coil offers to Italy were broadly unchanged.
Asian suppliers were heard offering HRC to Italy at €550-570 per tonne CFR for May shipment.
An Indian supplier was offering HRC to Europe at €590 per tonne CFR for May shipment.
Turkey continued to offer May-shipment HRC at €590-600 per tonne CFR, including anti-dumping duty.
