The European import hot-rolled coil market has had a rise in trading activity at the end of July, particularly in its Southern region, even though many market participants have already left the market for summer holidays.
As the initial shock after the announcement of the new import quotas calmed down and buyers got an understanding of their uptake, the activity picked up with a number of sales heard in the past several weeks.
A cargo of Turkish HRC was heard booked last week at €565-570 ($645-650) per tonne CFR for Southern Europe including anti-dumping duty.
An Italian source, however, reported offers at €590 per tonne CFR including anti-dumping duty this week.
Indian material was heard available at $645-655 per tonne CFR this week following several cargoes sold at $650-655 per tonne CFR several weeks earlier.
Most recent offers of Egyptian HRC were heard around €600 per tonne CFR, while several weeks prior a cargo was heard sold at €610-615 per tonne CFR.
Despite this slight pickup in demand, sellers are not moving prices significantly, considering relatively weak domestic markets of their own and the European domestic market as well.
Fastmarkets’ weekly assessment for steel hot-rolled coil import, cfr main port Southern Europe was €565-600 per tonne on July 29, down by €5-15 per tonne from €570-615 per tonne on July 22.
The corresponding assessment for steel hot-rolled coil import, cfr main port Northern Europe was €565-600 per tonne on July 29, down from €570-640 per tonne on July 22 due to the lack of trading activity and input in the region.
A similar tendency in activity was reported in DDP-based trade, with business mainly concentrated in the South.
Sources reported an Egyptian supplier providing offers on a DDP basis at €720-730 per tonne in Southern Europe, with some hints on deals heard but not completely confirmed by the time of the story publication.
A cargo of Japanese coil was reported sold to Spain at €740 per tonne DDP.
Another market source estimated the general range of DDP prices to the region at €700-750 per tonne, despite the fact that traditionally the gap between CFR and DDP levels was around €100 per tonne.
Fastmarkets’ weekly assessment for steel hot-rolled coil import, ddp Southern Europe was €700-740 per tonne on July 29, up from €655-715 per tonne on July 22.
The corresponding assessment for steel hot-rolled coil import, ddp Northern Europe was also €700-740 per tonne on July 29, up from €655-710 per tonne on July 22 due to the absence of input.
