The downtrend has persisted in the European HRC market since the beginning of September.
Trading remained very slow, with distributors and steel service centers having no need to restock due to continued weak end-user demand, Fastmarkets heard. Besides, sources said they were expecting prices to sink deeper and therefore preferred to hold back from bookings.
“Lead times from mills are very short; you can get [HRC] in under four weeks in some cases,” a buyer source in Germany said.
Offers in the country were reported at €570-580 ($629-640) per tonne ex-works, while in the Benelux area, one integrated mill was sticking to €600 per tonne ex-works.
Rare transactions were heard done at €560-570 per tonne ex-works in Northern Europe.
Some suppliers were undercutting that mark, but for large tonnages, Fastmarkets heard.
Notably, several sources reported transactions done at €530-540 per tonne ex-works from one integrated supplier for large volumes of HRC, but they pointed out that those were rather “special deals with special customers,” and that such low prices were not widely available in the spot market.
As a result, Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe at €566.25 per tonne on Friday, down by €4.81 per tonne from €571.06 per tonne on Tuesday September 12.
This is the lowest mark since December 2020.
The index was down by €14.50 per tonne week on week and by €50.00 per tonne month on month.
Meanwhile, in Southern Europe, Fastmarkets calculated its corresponding daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy at €570.00 per tonne on Friday, down by €0.63 per tonne from €570.63 per tonne on the previous day.
The Italian index was down by €10.24 per tonne week on week and by €45.00 per tonne month on month.
HRC offer prices from domestic suppliers were heard around €585-590 per tonne delivered, which nets back to about €575-580 per tonne ex-works.
Lead times were about four to six weeks, sources said.
Bids for such material were reported at €550-560 per tonne ex-works, but domestic suppliers were heard to be rejecting bids on the lower end of the range.
Trading was also quiet in Italy. Expectations have been bearish due to poor end-user demand, oversupply and the price downtrend in raw materials, Fastmarkets understands.
Meanwhile, the import HRC market was also slow because of a small gap between import and domestic prices, as well as trade defense measures in the European Union.
Turkish HRC was offered to Italy at €550 per tonne CFR, including the anti-dumping duty, sources said.
Asia-origin coil was reportedly on offer at €540-550 per tonne CFR.
HRC from India was heard offered to Italy at $600-620 per tonne CFR, depending on the supplier.
Most overseas suppliers were reportedly offering shipment on end-October to early November, which means January arrival.
