The European steel hot-rolled coil market remained quiet on Tuesday August 12 while the holiday season continued, with only limited tonnages heard traded at prices that were still below target offers, industry sources told Fastmarkets.
Ambitious new offer prices for October delivery coil were yet to be sealed in deals, with integrated mills hoping to achieve €590-610 ($685-709) per tonne ex-works for October delivery coil.
Transactions in the Benelux area were reported at €560-580 per tonne ex-works and even at €550 per tonne ex-works for bigger tonnages, according to market sources.
Overall, liquidity remained weak due to seasonal factors, they said.
“There is very little movement in the market. Everybody is waiting for September [and the] end of the vacation period, and for more clarity on CBAM [the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism] and trade measures,” a mill source told Fastmarkets.
“There are hardly any volumes traded,” a buyer source said. “Some 500 tonnes here, 1,000 tonnes there. We will see the real market picture when the holiday season is over.”
As a consequence, Fastmarkets’ calculation of the daily steel HRC index, domestic, exw Northern Europe was €571.01 per tonne on August 12, down by €2.32 per tonne from €573.33 per tonne on August 11.
The Northern European index was up by €10.83 per tonne week on week and by €24.76 per tonne month on month.
Meanwhile, the daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Italy was €540.00 per tonne on Tuesday, down by €2.50 per tonne compared with €542.50 per tonne on Monday.
The Italian index was, however, up by €5.00 per tonne week on week and up by €14.17 per tonne month on month.
But trading was almost non-existent in the Italian market due to vacations.
In late July, before commencing summer maintenance work, local suppliers suggested target offer prices for September at €540-550 per tonne ex-works. Buyers were estimating the market at €530-540 per tonne ex-works, however, and no fresh trades have been reported so far.
“End users, stockists and fabricators are not booking, and mills are on vacation or closed for maintenance. It’s the Italian holiday peak time,” a trading source said.
Prices for imported coil, meanwhile, edged upward.
In the week commencing August 11, HRC from Indonesia was on offer at €475 per tonne CFR to Italy, up from €460-470 per tonne CFR in the previous week.
Market sources reported a large cargo from Indonesia sold to Italy around €460-464 per tonne CFR in the week to August 8.
Offers from Turkey were heard at €520-540 per tonne CFR including anti-dumping duty, up from the previous offer price of €500-520 per tonne CFR reported in the week to August 8.
HRC from India, meanwhile, was on offer to Italy at €520-525 per tonne CFR.
And from Algeria, offers were reported around €520 per tonne CFR to Italy, while one source reported a transaction at €510 per tonne CFR to Italy in early August.
