Trading has been sluggish across Europe for the past few weeks, with buyers abstaining from restocking in a declining market, Fastmarkets understands.
“Buyers are waiting for [HRC] prices to drop more and therefore do not go after orders now,” a mill source said.
To secure orders, European mills have cut offers for April-May delivery HRC to around €720-750 ($781-814) per tonne ex-works, compared with the target range of €780-820 per tonne ex-works in January, market sources said.
But this cut in offers has not resulted in better buying, Fastmarkets understands.
Buyers estimated achievable levels at €700-730 per tonne ex-works on Tuesday, but “there were very few tonnages actually being traded at these prices,” a buyer source told Fastmarkets.
“Trading is very slow. I think we will see limited restocking in early April at best,” a distributor said.
Sources suggested that producers might consider reducing output to balance supply and demand, but mills have made no official announcements yet.
As a result, Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel HRC index, domestic, exw Northern Europe at €714.25 per tonne on Tuesday, down by €0.75 per tonne from €715.00 per tonne on Monday March 4.
The index was down by €4.71 per tonne week on week and by €45.75 per tonne month on month.
Meanwhile in Southern Europe, Fastmarkets’ daily steel HRC index, domestic, exw Italy was calculated at €692.97 per tonne on Monday, down by €1.03 per tonne from €694.00 per tonne on the previous day.
The index was down by €22.03 per tonne week on week and by €59.53 per tonne month on month.
HRC offers in Italy were mainly heard at €700 per tonne delivered, equivalent to about €685-690 per tonne ex-works.
“Even though we expected [HRC] prices to hold at €700 [per tonne ex-works], this line has been crossed, yet demand didn’t improve [after the price drop]. Demand is the main problem,” a distributor in Italy said.
Tradable prices for HRC in Italy were in the range of €680-700 per tonne ex-works, market sources said.
Offers were also sliding further in the import market, but European buyers were cautious with overseas bookings due to long lead times (June-July delivery) in a highly volatile market.
Import offers from Vietnam and Taiwan to Italy were heard at €610-620 per tonne CFR.
Similar offer prices were heard from India and Egypt.
Turkey-origin HRC was reported to be the most expensive, with offers at €670 per tonne CFR, including the anti-dumping duty.
Most overseas suppliers were heard offering May-shipment cargoes.
