High production costs, low demand limit trading in European downstream flat steel market

European cold-rolled and hot-dip galvanized coil prices slid lower during the week to Wednesday October 12 amid insufficient demand, sources told Fastmarkets.
Some European mills were ready to provide discounts on flat steel products to fill gaps in order books, but this did not help to spur trading activity.

Notably, one major European steelmaker was offering CRC at €865 ($840) per tonne delivered and HDG at €885 per tonne delivered across Europe late in the week to October 7. That would net back to €825-835 per tonne exw for CRC and to €845-855 per tonne for HDG. This is down from previous offers in the mid-September at €910 per tonne delivered for CRC and at €930 per tonne delivered for HDG.

But buyers’ indications of achievable prices were lower still – at €810 per tonne for CRC and at €830 per tonne for HDG.

According to market sources, both CRC and HDG production is very energy intensive however, so in general, producers could not be flexible with offers.

As a result, some producers preferred to withdraw CRC and HDG offers from the market altogether.

“We tried to offer CRC at €850 per tonne exw, but there was no buying interest at all,” a mill source in Northern Europe told Fastmarkets.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel CRC, domestic, exw Northern Europe was €810-830 per tonne on Wednesday, narrowing downward from €810-850 per tonne seven days earlier.

Fastmarkets’ corresponding weekly price assessment for steel HDG, domestic, exw Northern Europe was €840-860 per tonne on Wednesday, down by €10-30 per tonne from €850-890 per tonne seven days earlier.

Published by: Julia Bolotova