Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel beams, domestic, delivered Northern Europe was €740-780 ($830- 875) per tonne on Wednesday, with the price range narrowing down by €10 per tonne at the top end of the range from €740-790 per tonne on July 12.
The market in Northern Europe was very quiet in the week to Wednesday, with much of the steel industry in the region now on holiday.
“We are in the middle of the summer already – it’s really quiet,” a trader told Fastmarkets.
Producers in some parts of Southern Europe, meanwhile, have not yet shut for the summer holidays, but there were few buyers active in the market, leading to slow purchasing and putting further downward pressure on prices.
“[Traders] are not buying, demand is really weak and [mills] are not searching for orders because they know there is no profit that they can make at this moment,” the trader said.
Early in the latest pricing session, however, a second trader told Fastmarkets there had been some limited restocking of small tonnages by major producers, with some of that material imported. The trader added, however, that attempts by mills to raise prices had been unsuccessful.
Scrap feedstock prices in Turkey’s bellwether market fell after some fresh deals came to light, with steelmakers in the country keeping their scrap purchases to a minimum.
Financial issues in Turkey, including rising interest rates, a depreciating Turkish lira and limited lines of credit, have all had an impact on finished steel sales, thereby reducing demand for scrap.
Fastmarkets’ calculation of its daily index for steel scrap HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix) North Europe origin, cfr Turkey was $351.44 per tonne on Wednesday, down $12.56 per tonne week on week from $364 per tonne.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel beams, domestic, delivered Southern Europe was €740-780 per tonne on Wednesday, with the price range narrowing downward by €10 per tonne from €740-790 per tonne a week earlier.
Published by: Holly Chant
