Trading remained quiet in the European HRC market with buyers holding back and making mainly hand-to-mouth purchases.
Offers of February-delivery coil from integrated producers in northern Europe were heard at €710-730 ($764-785) per tonne ex-works, with “very limited room for negotiations,” sources said.
“Mills in Europe are keen to raise prices at €700 [per tonne ex-works] minimum, but this increase is rather cost and supply driven; demand remains slow,” a trading source in the region said.
An offer of January-rolling HRC from a re-roller in the region was heard at €685 per tonne ex-works.
Tradeable values were reported by buyers at €680-695 per tonne ex-works.
Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel HRC index, domestic, exw Northern Europe at €686.00 per tonne on Monday, up by €0.58 per tonne from €685.42 per tonne on December 8.
The index was up by €9.33 per tonne week on week and by €33.33 per tonne month on month.
Most sources agreed there still was room for price upticks because availability in the market was reduced due to output cuts and because mills had good order books.
“It is likely that another €20-per-tonne increase could be achieved for the first-quarter-rolling coil, simply because buying options are quite limited at the moment,” a steel service center in Germany said.
But sources questioned the sustainability of the uptrend into late first quarter due to expected restarts of blast-furnace operations at some European mills in the first quarter of 2024.
Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel HRC index, domestic, exw Italy at €668.33 per tonne on Monday, up by €2.91 per tonne from €665.42 per tonne on Friday.
The Italian index was down by €1.67 per tonne week on week but up by €38.33 per tonne month on month.
The Italian market was quiet after a long weekend.
Offers for February-delivery HRC from local suppliers were heard at €720 per tonne delivered (around €705 per tonne ex-works).
This compares with offers and transactions for January-delivery coil in the nation at €680 per tonne delivered (€660-665 per tonne ex-works).
Several buyers suggested that €700-710 (€685-695per tonne ex-works) could be achieved for February-delivery HRC in the nation due to limited supply.
“Steel service centers and distributors are still late on passing the increase of coils to end-users due to low real consumption. So they are trying to negotiate slightly lower prices [for HRC] with mills,” a trader in the nation said.
Meanwhile, prices for overseas HRC also rose with some suppliers making offers in line with European mills, while lead times were between three and four months for imports.
Offers of February-shipment HRC of India origin were heard at €650-655 per tonne CFR.
January-February-shipment HRC from Turkey was reported to be available to Italy at €670-680 per tonne CFR, including anti-dumping duties.
From Asian suppliers, offers for February shipment were heard at €640-650 per tonne CFR.
Published by: Julia Bolotova
