HDG
Slow demand from the major end-use sectors, especially the automotive and construction industries, kept trading quiet in the HDG market.
Mills have thin order books with August lead times still widely available.
Sources said that some Spanish suppliers tried to increase offers by €40 ($43) per tonne to €780 per tonne delivered, to reflect higher input costs, but buyers deemed the new prices too high.
“Apparently, feedstock for HDG production, especially imported feedstock, will get more expensive due to new safeguards. But thin demand will not allow for such a price rise [for HDG],” a buyer in the Iberian market said.
In Italy, offers for HDG coil were heard at €750-760 per tonne delivered, which nets back to €740-750 per tonne ex-works.
Buyer estimates of achievable prices were heard at around €730-740 per tonne ex-works.
Fastmarkets’ price assessment for steel hot-dipped galvanized coil domestic, ex-works Southern Europe was €740-750 per tonne on Wednesday, stable week on week.
Import offers were scarce, with overseas suppliers reportedly awaiting official documents confirming the new safeguards.
One Vietnamese mill was offering 0.5 mm HDG with z100 coating at $840 per tonne CFR, for August shipment.
Another Vietnamese mill was aiming for $865-870 CFR for 0.5 mm HDG with z140 coating, sources said.
Several sources reported offers from Indian suppliers for 2 mm HDG with z120-140 coating at €745-755 per tonne CFR to Italy.
CRC
Offers of CRC from European mills were very rare due to high costs of production and tough competition with imports in commodity-grade markets.
“Annealing [the heat treatment procedure for CRC production] is very energy-intensive and therefore CRC production is not commercially viable,” a mill source said,
“Mills reduce our output of commodity-grade CRC and focus on special grades and thicknesses, or produce more HDG instead,” a buyer source in Europe said.
In Italy, only one supplier was offering CRC, with offers reported at €750 per tonne delivered (€740 per tonne ex-works), and buyer estimates of tradeable values heard at €730-735 per tonne delivered at the highest (€720-725 per tonne ex-works)
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel cold-rolled coil domestic, ex-works Southern Europe was unchanged at €725-730 per tonne on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, offers from Asian and Indian suppliers for August-shipment CRC to Southern Europe were heard at €675-695 per tonne CFR during the week to Wednesday.
Sources pointed out that the European market for commodity-grade CRC was dominated by imports due to price disparity.
Published by: Julia Bolotova
