European domestic hot-rolled coil prices continued to move higher, supported by extended mill lead times and a lack of meaningful competition from imports. With buyers facing limited availability from regional producers and few attractively priced foreign offers, mills gradually pushed through higher prices despite cautious demand.
Producers gradually started offering May-delivery coils with April-delivery order books largely filled at some mills.
The market leader ArcelorMittal reported offers for Northern Europe for May-delivery coils at €720 ($848.35) per tonne delivered last week, netting back to €705 per tonne ex-works.
Mills in Germany followed the pricing direction set by the market leader with May-delivery offers heard at €700 per tonne ex-works versus €680 per tonne ex-works for April delivery.
A producer from the Benelux area applied a less bullish increase to offers, with May-delivery coils available at €680 per tonne ex-works versus €670 per tonne ex-works for April delivery.
“Italian and German coil producers are continuing to push for price increases, following ArcelorMittal’s lead, despite sluggish market activity. Mills cite long lead times and limited import competition as key support,” one buyer said.
Customer uptake of higher prices remained slow, with some minor volumes heard sold at €690 per tonne ex-works last week. This week buyers continued to say that this price was possible only for small tonnages, with estimates of workable prices varying within the range of €650-680 per tonne ex-works, with no major sales heard during the day.
“Prices are definitely not driven by demand but rather fear of higher import costs [carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and safeguard],” another source said.
Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe was €682.29 per tonne on Monday February 23, up by €2.29 per tonne from €680 per tonne on Friday February 20.
The index was up by €22.29 per tonne week on week and by €39.79 per tonne month on month.
Italian producers followed a similar strategy. May-delivery coil offers varied within the range of €680-700 per tonne ex-works, depending on the producer. April-delivery coils were available at €670-680 per tonne ex-works.
Estimates of workable prices varied within a wide range of €650-670 per tonne ex-works, with one seller saying they were not ready to sell below €660 per tonne ex-works.
“There is no reliable upcoming demand, restocking is only done to secure completion of contracted orders,” the second source said.
Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy was calculated at €665.63 per tonne ex-works on February 23 versus €661.32 per tonne ex-works on February 20.
The index was up by €14.03 per tonne week on week and by €30.63 per tonne month on month.
HRC import offers from Turkey for April shipment were heard in Italy at €520 per tonne CFR, excluding anti-dumping duties and carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) costs, according to the first source.
A third source said Turkish material was available at €640 per tonne DDP in Southern Europe and Algerian coil was offered at €630 per tonne DDP in the North and the South.
Asian HRC offers from traders were reported at €660-670 per tonne DDP, including CBAM and anti-dumping duties, for April-May shipment, the first source added.
