European prices for steel hot-rolled coil increased on Wednesday August 20, with suppliers pushing for higher figures, trade sources told Fastmarkets.
Integrated steelmakers in Northern Europe kept their offers of October-delivery HRC at €590-610 ($687-711) per tonne ex-works.
Earlier this week, several trade sources told Fastmarkets that leading European steelmakers had increased their offers for November-delivery material to €630 per tonne ex-works or delivered, but this was not confirmed.
Sources familiar with the market told Fastmarkets that producers’ offers for October-delivery coil were at €610 per tonne ex-works or delivered, while November sales “were not really open yet.”
In any case, buyer sources gave much lower estimates of achievable prices for HRC in the region, at €560-580 per tonne ex-works.
Transactions in Germany were reported within the range of €560-570 per tonne ex-works.
“Suppliers are trying to push for higher prices, but buyers are not accepting those offers,” a market source said. “The Asian market remains competitive and the [EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism] is also going to affect prices.”
Fastmarkets’ calculation of the daily steel HRC index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was €573.75 ($668.29) per tonne on August 20, up by €2.50 per tonne from €571.25 per tonne on August 19.
The Northern European index was up by €4.42 per tonne week on week and €22.08 per tonne month on month.
In Italy, meanwhile, one local integrated mill was heard seeking €580 per tonne ex-works and a European supplier was offering coil to the nation at €600 per tonne delivered.
Achievable prices were estimated at €530-540 per tonne ex-works by buyers and at €540-550 per tonne by sellers.
Trading activity in the nation remained minimal due to continued holiday absences.
Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Italy, was €538.33 per tonne on Wednesday, up by €0.83 per tonne compared with €537.50 on Tuesday.
The Italy index was up by €16.60 per tonne week on week and by €13.33 per tonne month on month.
Prices for overseas coil were also slightly up in the week to Wednesday.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel hot-rolled coil, import, cfr main port Southern Europe, was €470-520 per tonne on Wednesday, narrowing upward from €460-520 per tonne the previous week.
The lower end of the range reflected offers from Indonesian suppliers, which were heard at €470-475 per tonne CFR, while the upper and of the range reflected the lower end of offers from Turkey, India and Algeria.
Julia Bolotova, Davide Montagner
