Quiet trading conditions prevailed in the European HRC market on Wednesday. Despite the common realization among buyers and sellers that the price has reached a bottom, bullish momentum has failed to reignite.
“Prices [for HRC] have been stable for the last three to four weeks, mills’ attempts to get higher values have failed because demand is not there and the market is oversupplied,” a buyer in Germany said.
“Mills, however, do not want to drop prices ahead of long-term contract negotiations with automotive [customers] for the second half of 2024,” he added.
Buyers’ estimates of tradable values for HRC in Northern Europe ranged between €630 ($684) per tonne and €650 per tonne ex-works, with deals reported at €630-640 per tonne ex-works in the week started May 20.
This was in contrast with offers heard at €640-670 per tonne ex-works for HRC with delivery in June-July.
Sources expected the next round of restocking to be in mid-June but suggested that booked volumes will likely remain limited.
As a result, Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe at €637.00 ($691.64) per tonne on Wednesday, marginally down by €1.75 per tonne from €638.75 per tonne on the previous day.
The index was down by €3.63 per tonne week on week but up by €11.58 per tonne month on month.
Fastmarkets’ corresponding daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy was calculated at €632.50 per tonne on Wednesday, down by €1.25 per tonne from €633.75 per tonne on the day before.
The index was down by €4.88 per tonne week on week but up by €13.33 per tonne month on month.
Prices for HRC in the Italian market were also fairly stable on Wednesday.
Transactions were reported at €630-640 per tonne ex-works for Italy-origin HRC with July delivery.
Offers for such material were made earlier this month at €670 per tonne delivered (€660 per tonne ex-works), but this level was deemed “unworkable” by buyers.
“Trend reversal has failed; yes, [HRC] prices have stopped falling and tended to stabilize in the past few weeks, but no major rebound has happened,” a buyer in Italy said.
Distributors and steel-service centers struggled to increase prices downstream amid poor end-user demand.
“There was an attempt to increase prices for HR sheets to €740-750 per tonne delivered, but bookings are still done at no higher than €720-730 per tonne delivered,” a steel service center source in Italy said.
Import offers were largely flat day on day.
Notably, July-shipment HRC from Vietnam was available at €580-590 per tonne CFR. But it was not widely confirmed by all sources that lower end was actually available.
HRC from India was on offer in Europe at €590-600 per tonne CFR, depending on a supplier.
And offers from Taiwan, Japan and South Korea were heard at €600-620 per tonne CFR for July-August shipment.
Buyers’ price ideas for imported coil was around €550-560 per tonne CFR – a price which is currently outside the acceptable range for overseas suppliers.
Published by: Julia Bolotova
