Import suppliers dominate European CRC market with much cheaper offers

The European market for cold-rolled and hot-dip galvanized coil was quiet during the week to Wednesday May 29, with CRC supply mainly coming from imports, according to sources.

CRC
The CRC market was dominated by much cheaper imports and European mills trimmed their CRC output in favor of producing the more value-added HDG, industry sources told Fastmarkets.

“About 90% of CRC supply comes from imports now. Some [European] mills are not even offering CRC,” a buyer in Italy said.

Only one supplier was heard to be active in Italy, offering CRC around €740 ($804) per tonne delivered (around €725-730 per tonne ex-works), with July-August delivery available.

Buyer estimates of tradeable values were heard around €710-720 per tonne ex-works.

“European suppliers are only competitive if the buyer needs prompt shipment, special gauges, grades etc,” a second buyer in Italy told Fastmarkets. “Some suppliers [in Southern Europe] are quite well booked for CRC, offering quick delivery, but in general imports dominate the market.”

“CRC production is expensive in Europe; annealing is very energy-intensive so mills can’t go below costs,” a third buyer said.

Fastmarkets’ price assessment for steel CRC domestic, ex-works Southern Europe was €720-725 per tonne on Wednesday, up marginally by €5 per tonne from €715-720 per tonne on May 22.

Import CRC offers were reported at much lower levels.

Offers from India for August-shipment CRC to Southern Europe were heard at €695 per tonne CFR.

Offers from Japan and South Korea were heard at €660-675 per tonne CFR to Southern Europe for July-August-shipment CRC.

A transaction for CRC from South Korea was reported at €660 per tonne CFR during the assessment week.

“[Prices for imported CRC] are much lower; there is no chance for European mills to match those. For HDG, it is a bit less tense because overseas mills cannot supply the full range [of HDG] required by buyers in Europe,” a buyer in Italy told Fastmarkets.

HDG
Fastmarkets’ price assessment for steel hot-dipped galvanized coil domestic, ex-works Southern Europe was €740-750 per tonne on Wednesday, unchanged over the past week.

Offers from suppliers in Southern Europe were reported at €750-770 per tonne delivered (€740-760 per tonne ex-works) during the week, while buyers’ estimations of achievable prices were heard at €730-740 per tonne ex-works.

In the HDG market, trading was also slow, mainly due to limited demand from end-use sectors.

In such conditions, buyers avoided stockpiling and were mainly doing hand-to-mouth bookings.

Cheaper imports options were also available for HDG coil, but the impact of cheaper imports was not as significant as for CRC, Fastmarkets heard.

“Import HDG suppliers cannot supply the full range of grades and dimensions required by European buyers, so HDG is largely being procured in Europe,” a buyer in Southern Europe said.

Offers from Vietnamese suppliers of 0.5mm HDG with Z100-120 coating for August shipment were reported around $830 per tonne CFR to Southern Europe during the assessment week.

 

Published by: Julia Bolotova