Steel hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices in Northern Europe and Italy were stable day on day, with sources quoting slow market activity and limited demand, Fastmarkets heard on Friday September 25.
In Northern Europe, market participants said the market remained somewhat flat and had not heard of any significant activity on September 25.
A buyer source said offers were being quoted within €760-790 ($865-899) per tonne ex-works but added that mills would have to wait to achieve these prices in deals, so they were discarded from the daily index.
A second buyer indicated levels at €720-730 per tonne ex-works, saying they were unchanged from a week earlier. However, this price was discarded due to a lack of fresh confirmation in the market.
The HRC market was mostly quiet on Friday, and no other price points were collected during the day. For this reason, prices included in Thursday’s index were carried over to Friday’s index, in line with Fastmarkets’ methodology.
On Thursday, two buyer sources indicated workable levels in the range of €740-750 per tonne ex-works. The second buyer also reported higher offers at €750-760 per tonne ex-works for October-November delivery.
A price point on the sell side of Thursday’s index was copied over from Wednesday, when a supplier reported an indication of achievable levels at €730-740 per tonne ex-works, based on the prices that steel service centers in Germany were willing to pay for limited stock replacement.
Thus, Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe was calculated at €741.67 per tonne on September 25, stable day on day from September 24.
The index was up by €4.17 per tonne week on week and by €15.42 per tonne month on month.
In Italy, no fresh activity was reported either, as demand remained limited.
Latest indications of workable levels were quoted by sources on Thursday September 24 within the range of €730-745 per tonne ex-works.
As a result, Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy was calculated at €737.50 per tonne on September 24, also stable day on day.
The index was up by €6.75 per tonne week on week and by €18.75 per tonne month on month.
