Trading was still subdued in European domestic markets for steel hot-rolled coil on Monday March 30 with neither sellers nor buyers under pressure to book new volumes.
Mills were said to have almost sold out their material scheduled for delivery in May, and to be well booked for June deliveries. Meanwhile, buyers preferred to avoid overstocking in the current uncertain market conditions and with Easter holidays approaching.
A market source from Northern Europe reported that, in the sheet steel sector, there was still a lot of May-delivery material available for sale, which was affecting coil business.
Offers of May- and June-delivery material in the region were reported within the wide range of €700-750 ($803-860) per tonne ex-works.
Nevertheless, no fresh bookings were heard on Monday with estimates of workable prices varying within the range of €700-730 per tonne ex-works.
Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was calculated at €718.75 ($8274.02) per tonne on March 30, up by €1.25 per tonne from €717.50 March 27.
The index was up by €1.25 per tonne week on week and up by €32.68 per tonne rfom the last day of February.
Preliminary offers for July-delivery HRC in Northern Europe were heard in the range of €750-780 per tonne ex-works.
The rise in the domestic prices was expected, considering the rises in import prices as well as the introduction of a new tighter safeguard system in July.
The Italian market was also quiet on March 30 with no new transactions heard.
“The market is extremely quiet. If any deals are made, their volume is very small,” a local source said. “People are afraid of the negative economic outlook amid a tense global geopolitical situation, so they do not want to exaggerate with new volumes.”
Market participants said that workable prices for June-delivery coil, and for what was left of May allocations, still varied within the range of €690-700 per tonne ex-works. This was was reflected in the steel HRC index, domestic, exw Italy, which was €695.00 per tonne on Monday, down by €2.50 per tonne day on day.
The index was down by €0.63 per tonne week on week but up by €24.37 per tonne compared with February 27.
